Civil rights leader Joseph Lowery died of natural causes Friday. He was 98.
Rev. Lowery was best known as an aide and friend to Martin Luther King Jr. He also spent two decades leading the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Lowery spent around half his life fighting segregation, and lived to see the first black president. He delivered the benediction at President Barack Obama's inauguration.
In his prayer, Lowery said: "We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back; when brown can stick around; when yellow will be mellow; when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right."
President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
Obama said at the time: "Born and raised in Jim Crowe Alabama, preaching in his blood, the Reverend Joseph Lowery is a giant of the Moses generation of civil rights leaders.
Lowery is survived by his three daughters.
Contains footage fromCNN.
