Former presidential candidate and civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson died early Tuesday morning following a lengthy illness, his family announced. He was 84.
Jackson was hospitalized on Nov. 12 following a battle with the progressive neuromuscular disease progressive supranuclear palsy, a condition similar to Parkinson’s disease, as Breitbart News reported.
Jackson called it a “physical challenge” but continued his advocacy in the public domain.
His father, Noah Lewis Robinson Sr, also had Parkinson’s and died of the disease in 1997 at the age of 88.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Civil Rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Honorable Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr.,” according to a statement from the organization on Instagram.
“He died peacefully on Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family.”
Jackson founded Operation PUSH in 1971 as an initiative for the advancement of black communities in the United States and later launched the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984.
The two organizations merged in the 1990s to become the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
A close associate of Martin Luther King Jr in the 1960s, he was a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and a Democratic presidential candidate.
File/Original Caption 9/20/1984-New York, NY- Boxing great Muhammad Ali, hospitalized because of Parkinson’s syndrome but “looking pretty,” declared he’s still “the greatest.” Ali met with reporters outside the hospital with his friend of 20 years, the Reverend Jesse Jackson (L). Before entering the hospital, Jackson called Ali a “hero for our generation.” (GETTY)
Jackson sought to popularize the slogan “Keep Hope Alive,” which became central to his unsuccessful run for president in 1988.
Public observances will be held in Chicago and future plans for celebration of life events will be announced by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Jackson family said in its statement.
More to come…