Civil rights icon and two-time presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson passed away on Tuesday morning, his family said in a statement. Jackson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017 and was hospitalized twice in 2021. Jackson died at his home in Chicago. Tributes were published from U.S. President Donald Trump, Al Sharpton, William Barber, former US Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden,
CHICAGO FEBRUARY 17: Civil rights icon and two-time presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson passed away on Tuesday morning at age 84, his family said in a statement. Jesse Louis Jackson (born October 8, 1941) was an American civil rights activist, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. A protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. and James Bevel during the civil rights movement,
Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson began his activism in the 1960s and founded the organizations that later merged to form the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
In July 2023, Jackson announced his plans to step down as the leader of Rainbow/PUSH. His decision was caused by his advanced age as well as health complications: Jackson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017 and was hospitalized twice in 2021, after testing positive for COVID-19 and then after a head injury.
Jackson died at his home in Chicago on February 17, 2026, at the age of 84. His family announced his death on social media.
Tributes were published from U.S. President Donald Trump, Al Sharpton, William Barber, former US Presidents Bill Clinton (in a joint statement with wife Hillary), Barack Obama (in a joint statement with wife Michelle) and Joe Biden,
According to reports from his family and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he died after a long battle with a rare neurodegenerative disease called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).
