Oliviero Toscani, the photographer behind Benetton's provocative ad campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s who later broke with the Italian knitwear brand amid controversy, died Monday at age 82.

Toscani disclosed last year he had a rare disease. "It is with immense pain that we announce that our beloved Oliviero has undertaken his next journey," his wife, Kirsti, and their three children said in a statement. He died at a hospital in Livorno, Tuscany, the news agency ANSA reported.

Toscani had amyloidosis, a disease characterized by a buildup of abnormal protein deposits in the body. He told Corriere della Sera in August he lost had 40 kilograms (nearly 90 pounds) in a year, adding, "I don't know how long I have left to live, but I'm not interested in living like this anyway."

Toscani also said he would like to be remembered "not for any one photo but for my whole work, for the commitment."

Toscani was the creative force behind shock ad campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s that featured images such as the pope kissing an imam on the lips, which angered the Vatican.

Other images promoting the United Colors of Benetton depicted a priest embracing a nun, a newborn baby with its umbilical cord and a black woman breastfeeding a white baby, part of the brand's advocacy for diversity, religious tolerance and environmental messages.

During a 1997 shoot of a Benetton campaign featuring Jews and Arabs living peacefully together in Israel, Toscani told The Associated Press, "Any picture is a political image, so we make our choice and we go for the real thing."

He added: "You might have to face criticism. A lot of people don't like things that are different. Everybody likes to conform. We don't conform."

His decadeslong... Read More