Overview
- His family announced his death at 84 and described him as a “servant leader,” without disclosing a specific cause.
- Rainbow PUSH said he had been hospitalized in recent months for progressive supranuclear palsy after an earlier public Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2017.
- A close collaborator of Martin Luther King Jr., he was in Memphis in 1968 when King was assassinated and later built Operation PUSH and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition to advance economic and voting rights.
- His 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns broadened minority participation and helped spur Democratic delegate reforms that later benefited candidates such as Barack Obama.
- Leaders across the spectrum, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Al Sharpton and President Donald Trump, issued tributes highlighting his impact on equality and representation, while his 1990s diplomacy included securing detainees’ releases and serving as Bill Clinton’s envoy to Africa.