MASHPEE, Mass. - Maurice Foxx, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and a leading advocate for American Indian rights, died in his Mashpee home Aug. 7 several days after undergoing heart surgery. He was 59.

Foxx was appointed to represent the tribe on the Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs and served as chairman of the commission since 1998. He spent years working with his tribe and the commission in efforts to disseminate and preserve information about American Indian culture and heritage and in defense of American Indian rights.

''Maurice loved his people,'' commission Executive Director John Peters told The Boston Globe. ''He dedicated himself to trying to educate people about Native causes.''

Foxx also worked with the commission on issues related to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the 1990 federal law requiring museums and other institutions to return the remains of ancestors and cultural artifacts to their tribal descendants.