Joseph Lowery released from hospital after two-week stay

By Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Rev. Joseph Lowery is OK.

Two weeks to the day after he entered Emory University Hospital Midtown with a blood clot in the lung, the civil rights icon was released.

Lowery, 88, entered the hospital Jan. 30 complaining of shortness of breath. He was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism and placed in intensive care. Although friends said at the time that they thought he would be staying only a couple nights, he wound up in the hospital until Saturday.

He was released late last evening, hospital spokesman Lance Skelly said Sunday. Lowery remained in stable condition for nearly his entire time at the hospital.

The legendary Atlantan was a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the signature civil rights group originally headed by Martin Luther King Jr. Lowerywas its president for two decades beginning in the late 1970s.

Lowery gave the benediction at the inauguration of President Barack Obama last year, and he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, last summer.