Civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson died early Tuesday at age 84 after years of living with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), his family said in a statement.
“Our father was a servant leader not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the family said. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family.”
They added that his “unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions.”
Jackson had lived with PSP for more than a decade. The rare neurodegenerative disorder affects balance, movement and swallowing and has no cure, though symptoms can be managed.
He had recently been hospitalized for observation, according to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the organization he founded.
A longtime figure in the U.S. civil rights movement, Jackson rose to national prominence in the 1960s and worked closely with the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., including during efforts to expand economic opportunities for Black communities through Operation Breadbasket.
He was also present when King was assassinated in 1968.
Jackson later founded what became the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and ran for president in 1984 and 1988. In 2000, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
