Civil rights leader and former Bill Clinton advisor Vernon Jordan has died aged 85. His daughter Vickee Jordan said in a statement that he “passed away peacefully last evening surrounded by loved ones”.
“We appreciate all of the outpouring of love and affection,” she added.
He served as the executive director for the United Fund, which funds scholarships for Black students, and as president of the National Urban League for ten years, from 1971 to 1981, according to NBC News.
Mr Jordan headed up the Urban League after graduating from Harvard Law School, and his advice was sought after by those on the top of government and business.
He had a close relationship with President Bill Clinton whom he had befriended years before Mr Clinton entered the fight for the presidency ahead of the 1992 election. Mr Jordan was selected as the co-chairman of Mr Clinton’s presidential transition and became a close advisor and golfing buddy to the 42nd President, The New York Times reported.
“From civil rights to business, Mr Jordan demonstrated the highest quality of leadership and created a path forward for African-Americans where there were none,” the chairman of the Democratic National Committee Jaime Harrison said according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Mr Jordan was born in Atlanta the hometown paper added, and he grew up in the segregated city during the 1950s. After being rejected from a summer internship at an insurance company after his second year at college because of his race, he worked as a driver for former Atlanta Mayor Robert Maddox who at the time worked as a banker.
