ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) — Martin Luther King Jr.’s youngest son and King Center chairman died Monday, the King Center announced.
Dexter Scott King, 62, the youngest son and third child of MLK and Coretta Scott King died Monday in Malibu, California, at his home after battling prostate cancer.
“He gave it everything and battled this terrible disease until the end. As with all the challenges in his life, he faced this hurdle with bravery and might,” Leah Weber, his wife, said in a release from the King Center.
King was the chairman of the King Center and also president of the King Estate.
“The son of the Civil Rights icons was the family member delegated to take on the mantel of continuing the precedent his father set by legally protecting his work,” the King Center said in a release. “He devoted his life to the continued perpetuation of his father’s legacy and the protection of the intellectual property his father left behind.”
“Words cannot express the heartbreak I feel from losing another sibling. I’m praying for strength to get through this very difficult time,” Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King said.
Martin Luther King III, Dexter’s older brother, said the sudden shock of his brother’s death was devasting.
“It is hard to have the right words at a moment like this,” he said. “We ask for your prayers at this time for the entire King family.”
Dexter King was named for the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Alabama where his father once served as pastor, and he was just 7 years old when his father was assassinated in 1968.
As an adult, Dexter King focused on shepherding his father’s legacy and protecting the King family’s intellectual property.
Along with his work at the King Center, Dexter also portrayed his father in the 2002 television movie, “The Rosa Parks Story.”
“The actor had a love for the creative arts and initially relocated to California to pursue a career in acting. But family duty called and he answered, living out the rest…
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