Al Hendrix, the father of late guitar legend Jimi Hendrix and longtime protector of his legacy, died yesterday in his sleep at his Seattle home.

He was 82 and had been battling congestive heart failure.

Mr. Hendrix, remembered as a gracious, gentle and kind man who loved golf and plants, had spent the 31 years after his famous son's death preserving his memory, eventually gaining the rights to Jimi's name and music and pursuing a controversial monument at his grave site in Renton.

"The family respectfully requests that their privacy be honored at this time," his family said in a statement released by their lawyer. "They also wish to thank all of the fans and supporters of Jimi Hendrix and his musical legacy. Mr. Hendrix will be sorely missed but will live on through the music of his son and the love of his family."

Born James Al Hendrix in 1919, Mr. Hendrix grew up in Vancouver, B.C., with performing aspirations after training in dancing and boxing. But the Depression forced him to focus on earning a living instead. Settling in Seattle in 1940, he and his wife, Lucille Jeter, had sonJohnny Allen in 1942. When Mr. Hendrix returned from military service in Atlanta several years later, he renamed his son James Marshall Hendrix.

After his divorce from Lucille, who died in 1957, Mr. Hendrix reared Jimmy, as James was called then, and his half-brother Leon as a single father, moving among the Central District, Rainier Valley and Capitol Hill, and working a variety of jobs.

Mr. Hendrix gave Jimmy an old ukulele as a toy, followed by an acoustic guitar and soon after a used electric guitar. Jimmy taught himself to play by ear, and later dropped out of Garfield High School to tour with traveling bands and develop his new technique. He also changed the spelling of his first name to Jimi.

"I told him one time," Mr. Hendrix told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "'When you get into the music, into doing your thing, do something original, do something different.' He sure did."

Mr. Hendrix later married Ayako "June" Hendrix, but remained close to his eldest son until Jimi Hendrix's death Sept. 18, 1970, at age 27 of a drug overdose. Ayako "June" Hendrix died in 1999.

In 1995, Mr. Hendrix and his family gained full control over Jimi Hendrix's music, name and likeness, estimated to be worth between $60 million and $90 million, after two years of legal fights. The settlement granted Mr. Hendrix back royalties and rights to future royalties. After the decision, he and daughter Janie founded Experience Hendrix, a Seattle-based management company, to handle the estate.

Soon after, billionaire Paul Allen approached Mr. Hendrix to contribute Jimi's memorabilia to a privately funded rock 'n' roll shrine to be called the Jimi Hendrix Museum.

But after negotiations over exclusive rights turned to disagreement, the two sides parted and the shrine became the Experience Music Project.

Mr. Hendrix continued to heed the fans' desires to see Jimi honored. Plans for a monument at his grave in Renton never materialized. However, he supported the release of restored original recordings, wrote a biography titled "My Son Jimi" and held tribute guitar festivals through the company.

"I don't think there's a soul who met him that wasn't touched by his generosity," said Janet Wainwright, who successfully campaigned to create a Hendrix memorial at the Woodland Park Zoo in 1983.

The campaign "was a frustrating experience … and Al embraced everything I did, stuck by me, and said, 'Hey, Jimi loved animals!' He gave me one of Jimi's jackets as a thank-you.

"I look at Jimi Hendrix as being a really spiritual person. Anybody who met Al could see where Jimi got his great spirituality."

Survivors include daughter Janie and son Leon. Funeral arrangements are pending.

James A Hendrix