Dexter Scott King Obituary: The Sudden Loss Of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Son

Dexter Scott King Obituary: Dexter Scott King, the well-known son of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., has died. He was sixty-two years old. Following a fight with prostate cancer, King’s family revealed in a statement that he died away in California on Sunday, January 21, 2024.

King’s widow, Leah Weber King, of the King Centre for Nonviolent Social Change, issued a statement stating that her husband “transitioned peacefully in his sleep at home with me in Malibu.”

Dexter Scott King Obituary

“He fought this horrible illness to the very end, giving it everything he had.” He met this obstacle with courage and strength, just as he had all of his other trials in life, she stated.

The Rev. Bernice King, his younger sister, said, “Words cannot express the heartbreak.” I’m hoping for the fortitude to get through this really trying moment.

The eldest living child of the King couple, Martin Luther King III, said in a statement: “The sudden shock is devastating.” Finding the appropriate words in a situation like this is difficult. At this time, we kindly ask that you keep the King family in your prayers.

As chairman of the King Centre, which he co-founded upon his Morehouse College graduation, Dexter King oversaw efforts to protect his family’s legacy and intellectual property. He also served as the King’s Estate’s chairman.

According to the King Centre, “he was the family member assigned to take on the mantle of continuing the precedent his father set by legally protecting his work.” “He dedicated his life to safeguarding the intellectual property his father left behind and to the ongoing perpetuation of his father’s legacy.”

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His Legacy

Dexter King covered a wide range of subjects in his 2003 book “Growing Up King.” The impact of his father’s 1968 murder, which occurred when he was seven years old, was one of them.

The King Centre regretfully announced today the demise of Dexter King, its chairman. Dexter was the third child and youngest son of Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“He turned that pain into activism, however, and dedicated his life to advancing the dream Martin and Coretta Scott King had for their children,” stated a statement from the Rev. Al Sharpton, host of MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation.”” He said, “Dexter King left us far too soon.”

King met James Earl Ray, the man found guilty of killing his father in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1997. Dexter King was reassured by Ray that the civil rights leader was not killed. The son claimed that he had faith in Ray.

Dexter King got his name from the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where his father was the pastor in the 1950s. Dexter’s mother, Coretta Scott King, died in 2006, and his sister, Yolanda King, died in 2007.