Dexter Scott King, the younger son of the late civil-rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, has died of prostate cancer at the age of 62.
King passed away Monday at his home in Malibu, Calif., his family confirmed in a statement.
“He transitioned peacefully in his sleep at home with me in Malibu,” said his wife, Leah Weber King. “He gave it everything and battled this terrible disease until the end. As with all the challenges in his life, he faced this hurdle with bravery and might.”
Two of his siblings also shared words of remembrance for their brother.
“Words cannot express the heartbreak I feel from losing another sibling,” Bernice King, the youngest of the King children, said. “I’m praying for strength to get through this very difficult time.”
The elder sister, Yolanda King, died in 2007 from a heart attack. She was 51.
“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 eldest of the King children, said.
Dexter King, born in Atlanta, Ga., on January 30, 1961, was named after Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., where his father first served as a pastor. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 when his second son was only seven years old.
Dexter attended Morehouse College and later served as chairman of his family’s nonprofit, the King Center. He also served as 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 Monday. “He devoted his life to the continued perpetuation of his father’s legacy and the protection of the intellectual property his father left behind.”