Reports are coming in regarding the death of Dexter Scott King, the youngest son of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King.
The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change of Atlanta, which King was the chairman of, reported that he died at his home in Malibu, California due to complications from an ongoing battle with prostate cancer.
His wife, Leah Weber King, said he died peacefully in his sleep.
Dexter King was the third youngest of four siblings and was named for the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where his father was a pastor.
Dexter was 7 years old when his father was assassinated in April 1968.
King graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in Business Administration.
The younger King was an attorney who focused on guiding the legacy of his deceased father as well as protecting the intellectual property of the King family.
In addition to serving as chairman of the King Center, he also served as president of the King estate as well.
"Words cannot express the heartbreak I feel from losing another sibling," the Rev. Bernice A. King, Dexter Scott King's youngest sibling, said in a statement.
Martin Luther King III, the oldest living sibling, said: "The sudden shock is devastating. It is hard to have the right words at a moment like this. We ask for your prayers at this time for the entire King family".
Yolanda King, the oldest of King's children, died in 2007 just after her mother, Coretta Scott King, in 2006.
