The nation is mourning a titan of the Civil Rights Era.
The Rev. Joseph Lowery has died a few months after celebrating his 98th birthday with loved ones.
His daughter, Cheryl Lowery, confirmed his passing late Friday night.
Lowery made his mark in the 1950s and 1960s as a key civil rights leader at the shoulder of Martin Luther King Jr., helping to start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
He would go on serve the longest tenure in history as the president of the SCLC.
His career would see him pastor Cascade United Methodist Church and deliver the benediction at the 2009 inauguration of the country’s first black president, Barack Obama.
The King Center is among the many prominent voices and institutions grieving the loss.
Tonight, the great Reverend Joseph E. Lowery transitioned from earth to eternity. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. He was a champion for civil rights, a challenger of injustice, a dear friend to the King family.
— The King Center (@TheKingCenter) March 28, 2020
Thank you, sir.
[📸: MLK, Lowery, Wyatt Tee Walker] pic.twitter.com/PGHpBJJjNm
The Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice & Human Rights celebrated his 98th birthday with an October party at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot in downtown Atlanta.
"He is getting sentimental in his 98th year," Cheryl Lowery, said at the time. "He wants to spend time and love on the people who have meant so much to the movement and to him and he wants an opportunity for the people of the community of faith and social justice to come together."
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Photos and story: Horse-drawn carriage bears the Rev. Joseph Lowery to Westview Cemetery