Former MLK aide Tom Houck dies at 79

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Tom Houck, civil rights activist and former aide to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has died at 79.

Houck was one of the youngest members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) during the 1960s and served as a driver and personal assistant to King between 1966 and King’s assassination in 1968.

He was also key in the passage of the 26th Amendment, which granted 18-year-olds the right to vote, and the mobilization of minority voters throughout the South. Houck worked on campaigns for Andrew Young, Maynard Jackson and John Lewis.

“Following his impactful political work, Tom became a trusted media presence, serving as regular panelist on ‘the Georgia Gang’ and hosting a must-listen radio show which elected officials frequently joined as guests,” the Atlanta City Council said in a statement. “Tom was seemingly never ready to rest. In his later years, he was dedicated to preserving Atlanta’s civil rights history to ensure the causes he cared so deeply for would not fade away.”