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

The Associated Press
·2 min read
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ATLANTA (AP) — Dexter Scott King, the younger son of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, died Monday after battling prostate cancer.

The King Center in Atlanta, which Dexter King served as chairman, said the 62-year-old son of the civil rights icon died at his home in Malibu, California. His wife, Leah Weber King, said in a statement that he died “peacefully in his sleep.”

FILE – This 1966 file photo is the last official portrait taken of the entire King family, made in the study of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. From left are Dexter King, Yolanda King, Martin Luther King Jr., Bernice King, Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III. The King Center in Atlanta said the 62-year-old son of the civil rights leader died Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 at his California home after battling prostate cancer. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)

The third of the Kings’ four children, Dexter King was named for the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where his father first served as a pastor. He was just 7 years old when his father was assassinated in 1968.

As an adult, Dexter King became an attorney and focused on shepherding his father’s legacy and protecting the King family’s intellectual property. In addition to serving as chairman of the King Center, he was also president of the King estate.

FILE – The children of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, from left, Martin Luther King, Jr. III, Dexter King, Yolanda King and Bernice King stand next to a new crypt dedicated to their parents in Atlanta, Monday Nov. 20, 2006. The King Center in Atlanta said Dexter, the 62-year-old son of the civil rights leader, died Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 at his California home after battling prostate cancer. (AP Photo/W.A. Harewood, File)

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Coretta Scott King died in 2006, followed by the Kings’ oldest child Yolanda King in 2007.

“Words cannot express the heart break I feel from losing another sibling,” the Rev. Bernice A. King, Dexter King’s youngest sibling, said in a statement.

FILE – In this Feb. 6, 2006, file photo, from left, the children of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and Coretta Scott King, Dexter Scott King, the Rev. Bernice King, Martin Luther King III and Yolanda King participate in a musical tribute to their mother at the new Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. On April 4, 1968, a movement lost its patriarch when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on a hotel balcony in Memphis. Yolanda, Martin, Dexter and Bernice King lost their father. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

His older brother, Martin Luther King III, said: “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“.

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