Politics & Government
Andrew Young Hospitalized After Falling Ill
The 86-year-old former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador got sick at a speaking event in Nashville, according to his foundation.
ATLANTA, GA — Former Atlanta mayor and United Nations ambassador Andrew Young has been hospitalized for days after falling ill at a speaking engagement over the weekend.
WSB-TV reports that Young, 86, got sick after serving as keynote speaker for graduation ceremonies at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. He spent three days at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Andrew Young Foundation spokesman CB Hackworth told the station.
Hackworth did not provide details about Young's condition, but said he is expected to be admitted Wednesday into Emory University Hospital, where he plans to consult with his personal doctors.
Find out what's happening in Atlantafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)
"His family appreciates all the good wishes, but is hoping he can rest and have a little privacy until he’s well," Hackworth said to the station.
Find out what's happening in Atlantafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
A confidant of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and noted civil rights leader in his own right, Young began his career as a pastor and would become executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972, Young was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.
In 1981, Young became Atlanta's second-ever black mayor, winning the race to follow Maynard Jackson. He was re-elected in 1985 with more than 80 percent of the vote.
After not being allowed to seek office again due to term limits, Young ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for governor of Georgia — garnering 29 percent of the vote in a field that included eventual winner Zell Miller, then Georgia's lieutenant governor, and future Gov. Roy Barnes.
In 2003, he founded the Andrew Young Foundation, designed to support and promote education, health, leadership and human rights in the U.S., Africa and the Caribbean.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
