Joseph Echols Lowery (October 6, 1921 – March 27, 2020) was an American minister in the United Methodist Church and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He later became the third president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, after Martin Luther King Jr.. He was president from 1977 to 1997. He is Preceded by Ralph Abernathy and succeeded by MLK's son, Martin Luther King III. He was born in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2009, President Barack Obama honored him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Lowery died on March 27, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 98.[1]