NORWICH, Conn. (AP) – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich says retired bishop The Most Rev. Daniel Hart, has died. He was 80.

Hart had been fighting cancer the past six months and died Monday, said diocesan spokesman Shane Griffith.

Hart was born Aug. 24, 1927. He became an ordained priest in 1953 and later became a vice chancellor in the Boston archdiocese.

Hart was installed as the bishop of Norwich in 1995 and retired in 2003 at the age of 75.

Church officials credit Hart with shepherding the diocese through a period of fewer priests, a shifting population and a tightening economy. He oversaw the establishment of the diocese’s Web site and other innovative measures.

But Hart also was a defendant in lawsuits stemming from the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church, accused of failing to protect victims from predatory priests.

He was cleared of most of those charges in 2002.