SLEEPY EYE, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man whose son once fled the state to avoid chemotherapy has died.

A private funeral is set for Friday for Anthony Hauser. An obituary notice says Hauser died last Thursday at University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview. He was 56.

Hauser, of Sleepy Eye, told reporters at his farm last year that he had a rare and aggressive form of leukemia. He said he was treating the disease with dietary therapies.

In 2009, Hauser’s wife, Colleen, fled to California with their son, Daniel, after a judge ordered the boy to undergo chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Daniel and his mother returned, and he underwent conventional treatment. Family friend Dan Zwakman says Daniel, now 15, remains in remission.

Email and phone messages for Colleen Hauser were not immediately returned Tuesday.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)