John R Lewis

Representative John Lewis, a son of sharecroppers and an apostle of nonviolence who was bloodied at Selma and across the Jim Crow South in the historic struggle for racial equality, and who then carried a mantle of moral authority into Congress, died on Friday July 17 2020 He was 80. Mr. Lewis, a Georgia Democrat had announced on Dec. 29 that he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer Born in Troy, AL, February 21, 1940; B.A., American Baptist Theological Seminary, Nashville, TN, 1961; B.A., Fisk University, Nashville, TN, 1967; director of ACTION, 1977-1980; community affairs director, National Consumer Co-op Bank, Atlanta, 1980-1986; member of the Atlanta, Ga., city council, 1982-1986; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundredth and to all succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1987-present). he met Lillian Miles, a librarian, teacher and former Peace Corps volunteer. She was outgoing and political and could quote Dr. King’s speeches verbatim. They were married in 1968, and she became one of his closest political advisers. She died in 2012. Mr. Lewis’s survivors include several siblings and his son, John-Miles Lewis.