Dexter King, attorney and the youngest son of civil rights icons Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Coretta Scott King has passed away at the age of 62.
The King Center released the news of King’s death and announced that he died on Monday after a “valiant battle with prostate cancer” at his home in California.
“He transitioned peacefully in his sleep at home with me in Malibu,” his wife, Leah Weber King, said. “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.”
“Words cannot express the heartbreak I feel from losing another sibling,” Bernice King said of her brother’s death. “I’m praying for strength to get through this very difficult time.”
“The sudden shock is devastating,” Martin Luther King III said. “It is hard to have the right words at a moment like this. We ask for your prayers at this time for the entire King family.”
King is survived by his wife of 11 years, Leah, his siblings Bernice and Martin III, and his niece, Yolanda Renee King. King’s mother died in 2006. His sister, Yolanda King, died one year later.
King spent his life protecting the intellectual property of his father’s work and served as both Chairman of The King Center and President of the King Estate, according to the King Center’s statement.
“He was the family member delegated to take on the mantle of continuing the precedent his father set by legally protecting his work,” the King Center said in a statement. “He devoted his life to the continued perpetuation of his father’s legacy and the protection of the intellectual property his father left behind.”
He was the second-born son in the King family, born on Jan. 30, 1961, in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents named him after Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where his father served as the first pastorate. He was only 7 years old when his father was assassinated in 1968.
Upon graduating from Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta, where he was involved in a number of extracurricular activities, including football, he enrolled in his father’s alma mater, Morehouse College.
King ended up moving to California to pursue a career in acting after an appearance on “The Rosa Parks Story” in 2002, in which he portrayed his father, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. He continued to work in creative arts while balancing the duties connected to his family’s legacy.
The King family plans to hold a media conference on Tuesday. The date for a memorial service will be released at a later time.
