Martin Luther King Jr’s Son, Dexter Scott King, Dies of Cancer at 62

Dexter Scott King, who dedicated much of his life to shepherding the civil rights legacy of his parents, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, died Monday after battling prostate cancer. He was 62.

The King Center in Atlanta, which Dexter King served as chairman, said the younger son of the civil rights icon died at his home in Malibu, California. His wife, Leah Weber King, said in a statement that he died “peacefully in his sleep.”

“The sudden shock is devastating,” Martin Luther King III, the older brother of Dexter King, said in a statement. “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.”