ROCKPORT ( AP) — The founder of the Maine-based Institute for Global Ethics has died in Florida. He was 67.

The institute said Rushworth Kidder died Monday in Naples, Fla., where he moved late last year. His assistant described Kidder’s death as sudden, but details weren’t available.

Kidder was a columnist at the Christian Science Monitor and wrote about ethics before founding the institute in 1990 in Camden. A year ago, it relocated to Rockport.

Kidder, who kept a home in Lincolnville, wrote many books including “ Good Kids, Tough Choices: How Parents Can Help Their Children Do the Right Thing,” “ Moral Courage” and “How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living.”