Services have been set for the Rev. Howard Creecy Jr., a prominent Atlanta minister and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who died suddenly on Thursday.
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, at Jackson Memorial Baptist Church, 534 Fairburn Road NW in Atlanta. Other details about the funeral are still being worked out, SCLC and Jackson Memorial officials said. The funeral was originally scheduled for Friday.
Although the cause of death has not been determined, Creecy's family suspects the pastor of the Olivet Church in Fayette County died of a heart attack at his Atlanta home around 12:30 a.m., according to the SCLC. The group said an autopsy has been commissioned.
Isaac Newton Farris Jr., a nephew of SCLC cofounder the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., has been named interim president, the organization said.
Creecy, 57, took the helm at the SCLC on Jan. 30 after Bernice King, the younger daughter of the slain civil rights leader, declined the position. Before that, Creecy had served as the interim president of the organization.
Creecy acknowledged that the SCLC, founded in 1957, had suffered internal divisions in recent years. His mission, he said, was to help define the direction of the group in the 21st century.
"Howard has been a prophetic leader who deeply inspired me along with countless others across this great nation and world," said Farris, who added that the group was "shocked" by Creecy's sudden death.
"As far as I knew, Howard was in great health," Farris said in a release. "From his inspired leadership, which revitalized the SCLC, we will work to continue on the path that he and leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. lay before us."
Infighting had engulfed the civil rights organization for the past few years when two competing factions both claimed to be the official board. One group tried to remove the other from positions of power because then-Chairman Raleigh Trammell and then-Treasurer Spiver Gordon were suspected of mishandling $569,000 of SCLC funds, first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The FBI and the Fulton County District Attorney's Office opened investigations into the matter, and it is still pending. A grand jury in Ohio indicted Trammell in connection with his spending of that chapter's money.
A Fulton County judge ruled last summer that Trammell and his supporters were not the official board.
That ruling seemingly paved the way for Bernice King, who had been elected president in October 2009, to assume the presidency. But in January, King said she would not take the position, citing conflicts with the board.
“After numerous attempts to connect with the official board leaders on how to move forward under my leadership, unfortunately, our visions did not align,” King said.
Creecy was then elected to lead the organization.
The Rev. Gregory Sutton, pastor of Jackson Memorial, and a lifelong friend, said the SCLC “took a big loss in terms of all the legal stuff that they went through and Howard was trying to bring it back financially. He was trying to pool preachers and pastors across the country.”
For 26 years Creecy, a third-generation preacher, was senior pastor at St. Peter’s Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta before joining his father at Olivet Church in 2002. He became pastor at Olivet when the elder Creecy died in 2008.
“We knew that we were in a new season, and it involved new and different kinds of issues and we just wanted to serve the community,” said Sutton, who said he had been asked by Creecy to serve on the SCLC board of directors.
“Some had said that the SCLC had become sort of obsolete, but we felt like we just needed to deal with the new issues in this day and that it was not obsolete,” Sutton said. “Howard felt like it was a challenge and he committed himself wholeheartedly.”
Martin King III, president of the King Center, and a former SCLC president, said Creecy would be missed. “I join in mourning the death of my good friend, Reverend Howard Creecy, Jr., a very kind and caring man who served with energetic dedication as S.C.L.C.’s president in a time of challenge. But I also join in celebrating his life and his wonderful example of service to God, to the cause of social justice and to humanity "
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, who said Creecy had an unshakable commitment to civil rights, said the city has lost "a great spiritual and civic leader."
"Throughout the years, Rev. Creecy inspired and touched everyone he came in contact with. He was a pastor, mentor, friend and confidante to many, including me," the mayor said.
Creecy is survived by his wife, Yolanda Grier Creecy, and two children.
Staff writer Rhonda Cook contributed to this article.
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