(HOUSTON) — Friends, family and community leaders of George ‘Mickey’ Leland gathered Thursday to remember the former Houston Congressman 25 years after his death.
Leland was on his way back to a village in then famine-stricken Ethiopia on Aug. 7, 1989, when his plane crashed into the side of a mountain, killing everyone on board.
Those who knew him simply called him “Mickey.”
While Leland represented Houston’s 18th Congressional District, he considered himself a citizen of the world.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who now represents the 18th Congressional District, says Leland was defined by his passion and commitment to end poverty and world hunger.
“Mickey Leland was a servant leader. Mickey was literally bringing grain to bring hope and life to a dying people,” Lee said.
Congresswoman Lee joined several other elected officials, community leaders, family and friends in a wreath-laying ceremony at Mickey Leland Memorial Park, the site of Leland’s first legislative office in Houston’s Fifth Ward.
Similar services were also held in Washington D.C. and Ethiopia.
The Latest News Headlines, Traffic and Weather: Follow @news92fm
Scroll to the bottom to comment here, or join the conversation on our Facebook page or with @News92FM on Twitter.
George ‘Mickey’ Leland, Former Congressman, Remembered 25 Years Later was originally published on news92fm.com
