Dexter Scott King, son of Martin Luther King Jr., dies at 62

Dexter Scott King, the lookalike of his iconic father, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., has died.

He was 62.

Dexter King died Sunday in California after a bout with prostate cancer, his family confirmed in a statement.

“Words cannot express the heartbreak,” said the Rev. Bernice King, the youngest of the King children. “I’m praying for strength to get through this very difficult time.”

“The sudden shock is devastating. 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,” Martin Luther King III, the King’s oldest surviving child, said in a statement.

Dexter King attended Morehouse College and later served as the chairman of the King Center, leading the efforts to protect his family’s legacy and intellectual property. He was also president of the King Estate.

“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 lift to the continued perpetuation of his father’s legacy and the protection of the intellectual property his father left behind.”

Dexter King was named after the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where his father served as pastor in the 1950s.

Dexter King was just 7 years old when his father was assassinated in 1968. His mother, Coretta Scott King, died in 2006, followed by his sister, Yolanda King, in 2007. He is survived by his wife, Leah Weber.

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This article was originally published on TODAY.com