VIA CNN.com:
Dorothy Height, a leading civil rights pioneer of the 1960s, died Tuesday at age 98, Howard University Hospital confirmed.
Height died at 3:41 a.m., said hospital spokesman Ron Harris. No cause of death was given.
Height, who had been chair and president emerita of the National Council of Negro Women, worked in the 1960s alongside civil rights pioneers, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., future U.S. Rep. John Lewis and A. Philip Randolph. She was on the platform when King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington.
President Obama called her a hero, saying she “served as the only woman at the highest level of the civil rights movement — witnessing every march and milestone along the way.”
“And even in the final weeks of her life — a time when anyone else would have enjoyed their well-earned rest, Dr. Height continued her fight to make our nation a more open and inclusive place for people of every race, gender, background and faith.”
Friend and former U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman said she was “deeply saddened” by Height’s death.
“She was a dynamic woman with a resilient spirit, who was a role model for women and men of all faiths, races and perspectives,” Herman said. “For her, it wasn’t about the many years of her life, but what she did with them.”
Height’s years of service span from Roosevelt to the Obama administration, the council said in a statement announcing her death and listing the highlights of her career.
