(The Center Square) – Jesse Jackson’s family says the civil rights leader, former presidential candidate and Rainbow/PUSH coalition founder was a servant leader. In a statement, his family said Jackson died peacefully Tuesday morning at the age of 84.
Although the cause of death was not immediately released, Jackson was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a neurological disorder, last April and hospitalized in November. He had previously been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013.
Jackson sought the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 1984 and won five primary contests that year. He ran again in 1988 and won eleven contests, finishing second to Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis.
Jesse Louis Jackson was born Oct. 8, 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina. According to his bio on the Rainbow/PUSH coalition website, Jackson began his activism as a student in the summer of 1960, when he sought to desegregate the local public library in Greenville.
Jackson enrolled in the University of Illinois on a football scholarship but later transferred to North Carolina A&T State University and graduated from that school in 1964.
In 1965, he became a full-time organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The next year, Jackson was appointed by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to direct the Operation Breadbasket program.
In December 1971, Jackson founded Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) in Chicago. The organization’s stated goals were economic empowerment and expanding educational, business and employment opportunities for the disadvantaged and people of color.
In 1984, Jackson launched the National Rainbow Coalition to demand affirmative action, social programs and affirmative action for minority groups. The coalition opposed President Ronald Reagan’s policies that the group said reduced domestic spending by the federal government.
Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition merged in 1996.
Jackson was credited with numerous accomplishments in international diplomacy, including the release of Cuban and Cuban-American prisoners in Cuba, the release of captured Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman from Syria in 1984, the release of U.S. soldiers held hostage in Kosovo in 1999 and the release of four journalists held in Liberia in 2000.
Jackson led and participated in numerous protests, including demonstrations against South African apartheid and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
On Aug. 9, 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Jackson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, their five children and numerous grandchildren.
Public observances will be held in Chicago. Final arrangements for celebration of life services will be released by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition at www.rainbowpush.org or JesseJacksonLegacy.com.