Jan. 22 (UPI) — Dexter Scott King, the youngest son and third child of slain civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, died Monday of prostate cancer, family members announced. He was 62.
King died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Malibu, Calif., after “a valiant battle with prostate cancer,” his wife, Leah Weber King, said in a statement issued by the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
“He gave it everything and battled this terrible disease until the end,” she said. “As with all the challenges in his life, he faced this hurdle with bravery and might.”
King’s sister, King Center CEO Bernice King, added, “Words cannot express the heartbreak I feel from losing another sibling. I’m praying for strength to get through this very difficult time.”
Martin Luther King III said ”the sudden shock” of his sibling’s death “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.”
Dexter King was born in Atlanta on Jan. 30, 1961, and was named after Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., where his father served his first pastorate. He was only 7 years old when his father was assassinated in Memphis in 1968.
Like his father, he grew up in Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where his grandfather served as pastor, and graduated from Frederick Douglas High School, where he played football and participated in many other school organizations.
He then followed his father’s footsteps to Morehouse College in Atlanta and later “devoted his life to the continued perpetuation of his father’s legacy and the protection of the intellectual property his father left behind,” the King Center said.
Dexter King served as both chairman of The King Center and president of the King Estate, utilizing his skills in intellectual property law to oversee the legacy of both his father and mother, according to the family.
He married his longtime partner Leah Weber, a former broadcast journalist, entrepreneur and consultant, in 2013 in New Orleans.
Dexter King’s death from prostate cancer mirrors the struggles of Black men nationwide with the disease. They are 70% more likely to develop prostate cancer in their lifetime than others and twice as likely to die from the disease, according to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Center Center.
The reasons for this are not fully understood but may be connected to social and environmental issues involving nutrition, access to health care, and exposure to environmental pollutants, researchers say.
The issue came into focus this month when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was hospitalized for severe pain due to intestinal complications following a Dec. 22 prostate cancer surgery.
The 70-year-old Pentagon chief, however, was in the hospital three days before the Biden administration, including President Joe Biden, was notified, leading to criticism over his lack of transparency and calls for him to resign.
The condition can be embarrassing for many men and can lead men of all racial backgrounds to attempt to keep it under wraps, despite the fact that prostate cancer is very treatable if caught early and only about 3% of men die from it, urologist Dr. Samuel Haywood told USA Today this month.
“Men can be very stoic, and they don’t like to talk about their health issues,” he said.
Another recent high-profile case of prostate issues involves Britain’s King Charles III, who canceled planned events last week ahead of planned surgical treatment for a benign enlarged prostate.
