We note with grief the passing of Mel King, at 94: union leader, educator, community organizer, housing advocate, state representative, mayoral candidate, mentor, and the leading force behind many of the best things that have happened in Boston over the past sixty years or so.
As Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said of him,“For decades, Mel King taught us all how to serve, how to build, and how to love.”
State Senator Lydia Edwards said “I’m really sad because we don’t have any more Mels, not even a pipeline for Mels … He was a universal uniter, above the geographic division, above class division, race — he was the one all organizers could look to and know his heart was the purest.”
The Brockton Area Branch NAACP called him “a warrior of justice, struggle and reconciliation.”
Mel King would probably tell us to just get on with all the work that is still unfinished.
His son Michael King, director of the South End Technology Center that his father founded in 1997 offering free classes in IT and innovation, said this week that his dad used to say “It’s not that hard to do the right thing.”
