Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Leader Who Ran For President, Dies At Age 84

By Zoe Christen Jones, CBS Boston

Updated on: February 17, 2026 / 7:28 AM EST

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the famed civil rights leader who marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and later ran for president, has died, his family says. He was 84.

He died peacefully on Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family, they said in a statement.

Jackson was hospitalized for observation in November, and doctors said he'd been diagnosed with a degenerative condition called progressive supranuclear palsy. He revealed in 2017 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which affects the nervous system and slowly restricts movement and daily activities. Jackson called it a "physical challenge," but he refused to let it prevent him from continuing his civil rights advocacy. His father, Noah Lewis Robinson Sr., also had Parkinson's and died of the disease in 1997 at the age of 88.

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