Bernice King’s visit to ODU postponed after death of brother

Bernice King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, will reschedule her Tuesday visit to Old Dominion University for its annual King observance because her brother Dexter Scott King died Monday. He was 62.

She was scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the 39th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Observance honoring her late father. A new date for the event hasn’t been announced.

King shared a photo of her and her brother on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter. She posted, “I cannot express the heartbreak I feel from losing another sibling, my brother, Dexter. I’m praying for strength to get through this very difficult time.”

Dexter King was the late civil rights leader’s youngest son and third child. He died from prostate cancer, according to the King Center website.

Bernice King is a minister, attorney, author and CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change — or The King Center — in Atlanta. The center was founded by her mother, Coretta Scott King, to promote social change.

ODU also postponed the presentation of the Hugo Owens Martin Luther King Jr. award, which recognizes an individual or organization that has contributed to civil rights, politics, housing and social programs. It was named for Owens, a Portsmouth dentist who helped lead lawsuits that desegregated the city’s hospital, parks and libraries in the 1950s and ’60s.

Kelsey Kendall, kelsey.kendall@virginiamedia.com