Dexter Scott King, son of Martin Luther King Jr., has died aged 62 following a battle with prostate cancer.
Born on January 30, 1961, Dexter would have turned 63 next week.
Dexter died at home in Malibu, California, and leaves behind his wife of 11 years Leah Weber King.
He had a wide ranging career from studying business administration at his father’s alma mater Morehouse College to pursuing his dreams in acting.
Known for a striking resemblance to his dad, King, who was the third and youngest child of MLK Jr. and Coretta Scott King kept a private life.
Here DailyMail.com takes a look at his life…
Dexter Scott King, the younger son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, has died after battling prostate cancer
Dexter Scott King, pictured on mother Coretta’s lap as a two year old, was just seven when his father was assassinated in Memphis in 1968
Known for a striking resemblance to his father, the third child of MLK Jr. and Coretta Scott King kept a private life
Dexter Scott King’s wife
Dexter married his best friend and longtime partner Leah Weber King on July 12, 2013, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Leah, a New Orleans native, is a former broadcast journalist, entrepreneur and consultant.
The couple do not have any children together.
Dexter’s cousin Isaac Newton Farris Jr. said the two met in New Orleans when Leah hosted a book signing for Dexter’s memoir.
‘Together they built a life of love, support and unconditional love, much like that of Dexter’s mother and father,’ said The King Center.
Dexter Scott King and his wife Leah Weber King. The two got married in a private ceremony in July 2013
The couple do not have any children together. Dexter’s cousin Isaac Newton Farris Jr. said the two met in New Orleans when Leah hosted a book signing for Dexter’s memoir
Dexter Scott King’s family
Dexter was the third child and second son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.
He was named for the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Alabama where his father once served as pastor, and he was just seven years old when his father was assassinated in 1968.
His oldest sister, and first born of MLK Jr. and Coretta, died at 51-years-old on May 15, 2007 – one year after their mother passed.
Dexter’s older brother, Martin Luther King III, and younger sister, Bernice King, have survived him. Their older sister Yolanda King died in 2007.
The siblings have taken their quarrels public and gone through periods where they didn’t speak to each other.
In January 2015, the brothers sued Bernice over several of their fathers personal items including his Bible and his Nobel Peace Prize.
In August 2013 – on the 50th anniversary of King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech – the estate asked a judge to stop the King Center, where Bernice is the CEO, from using his image, likeness and memorabilia, arguing that the center wasn’t caring for King artifacts properly.
The children of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, from left, Martin Luther King III, Dexter King, Yolanda King and Bernice King stand next to a crypt dedicated to their parents in Atlanta in 2006
Yolanda King, Martin Luther King III and Dexter King stand behind their mother Coretta Scott King as she addresses the 25th Anniversary March on Washington in 1988
Dexter Scott King (right) with his older brother Martin Luther King III on September 8, 2017 in Atlanta
Martin Luther King III and Dexter Scott King hold hands with their mother Coretta Scott King at a march on April 8, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee
In December 2005, Bernice and Martin successfully fought a push by Yolanda and Dexter, who along with other trustees of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change wanted to sell it to the National Park Service.
In 2008, two years after the death of their mother and a year after Yolanda died, a long-simmering dispute between the surviving siblings boiled over, with three lawsuits filed between them in as many months.
Dexter Scott King’s Career
Dexter grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Fredrick Douglas High School where he played football.
He then followed in his father’s footsteps and attended Morehouse College and studied business administration.
Dexter briefly took over operations at the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in 1989, but he stepped down four months later.
Dexter King pursued a career in acting and portrayed his father in the 2002 television movie The Rosa Parks Story
Dexter King was named for the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Alabama where his father once served as pastor
Then he took over as chairman, president, and chief executive officer of the King Center in 2005.
Dexter focused on shepherding his father’s legacy and protecting the King family’s intellectual property. Dexter King was serving as the King Center´s chairman at the time of his death.
He had a love for the arts and first moved to California to pursue acting, according to The King Center. In 2002, he portrayed his father in the television movie The Rosa Parks Story.
Dexter published a memoir about his fathers death in 2004 titled Growing Up King: An Intimate Memoir.
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