Jesse Jackson, the longtime civil rights activist, Baptist minister, and two-time presidential candidate, has died at 84. His family said he passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, though no cause of death was immediately announced. He had lived for years with progressive supranuclear palsy and previously revealed a Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2017.
Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson rose to prominence during the civil rights movement, working alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and later running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. Public memorials are planned in Chicago.
Tributes poured in, including from Donald Trump, who called Jackson a “good man” and praised their past cooperation. In his statement, Trump also controversially claimed that Jackson “could not stand” Barack Obama. Neither Obama nor Jackson’s family responded to that claim.
Jackson is remembered as a powerful advocate for justice, equality, and civil rights.