Leon Sullivan Dies at 78
Baptist minister led U.S. efforts to hold corporations responsible for investing in South African apartheid
Chris Herlinger | posted 4/01/2001 12:00AM
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According to Associated Press, Jesse Jackson, a leading civil rights leader, described Sullivan as "a tremendous source of hope and vitality and moral authority."
Sullivan, a native of Charleston, West Virginia, was a graduate of West Virginia State University and studied theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He was pastor for 38 years of the Zion Baptist Church in Philadelphia, where he was known for his social activism and his commitment to economic development and self-help within the African American community.
His work on the Sullivan Principles in South Africa in part grew out of his experience as the first black member of the board of the General Motors. In 1992, then-President George Bush awarded Sullivan the presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the nation's highest honors.
Copyright © 2001 ENI.
Related Elsewhere
Other obituaries are available from The Arizona Republic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware), Panafrican News Agency, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), The Philadelphia Inquirer, Reuters, Associated Press, and UPI.
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