A. Leon Lowry, 92; Civil Rights Leader, Teacher of Martin Luther King Jr.
Preacher, educator and civil rights leader A. Leon Lowry, 92, who once taught the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and led the desegregation of public facilities in Tampa, Fla., died Saturday of congestive heart failure.
Lowry’s association with the civil rights movement dated to the 1940s, when he taught theology at Morehouse College and King was one of his students.
In the 1960s, Lowry led peaceful protests at Tampa lunch counters and helped found the city’s first biracial bank.
He became president of the Florida chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, and in 1976 was the first African American elected to the Hillsborough County school board, on which he served for 16 years. The Florida Bar awarded him a medal of honor for easing racial tensions and promoting social justice.
Until he was hospitalized, Lowry had continued counseling jail inmates; he commuted by scooter because hip problems prevented him from driving.
“And that was just his whole life,” Lowry’s wife, Shirley, told the St. Petersburg Times. “He always wanted to help people.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
