Louis Stokes, the first Black congressman from Ohio, dies at 90, public funeral arrangements are announced by the family....Stokes to lie in state at Cleveland City Hall....In Congress Stokes fought for Black people and the poor, among others, and led investigations into the assassinations of JFK and MLK....Stokes was the brother of the late Carl B. Stokes, the first Black mayor of Cleveland and of a major American city.....This article is the first of a three-part series on the legendary Louis Stokes by Editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's leader in Black digital news
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| Retired 11th congressional district congressman Louis Stokes, and his wife, Jay Stokes. Louis Stokes died on Tuesday, August 18 at his home in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a prominent Cleveland suburb. He was 90-years-old. The former federal lawmaker, who was the first Black to serve in Congress from Ohio, announced publicly in July that he had been diagnosed with brain and lung cancer. |
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio- Louis Stokes, Ohio's first Black congressman, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 30 years and represented Ohio's largely Black 11th congressional district, formerly the 21st congressional district, died Tuesday at his home in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a prominent Cleveland suburb. He was 90- years- old.
Open-to-the public funeral services are Tuesday, Aug. 25 at 11 am at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church on Cleveland's east side at 8712 Quincy Avenue.
Burial services, however, are private.
"Our family is mourning the loss of our husband, father, grandfather and close confidant," the Stokes family said in a press release.
"He loved Cleveland and was honored to have the opportunity to represent its citizens in the United States Congress, and he was equally committed to our family, and his love knew no bounds," the family statement said. "It is this enduring love that will sustain us in the days and years to come."
The family said that the elder statesman died peacefully with his wife of 55 years, Jay Stokes, by his side, and that he was "guided by faith, while embracing the prayers and well wishes of family, friends and constituents. "
Stokes announced publicly in July that he had been diagnosed with lung and brain cancer.
The former federal lawmaker served 15 terms in Congress representing Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs before retiring in 1998.
As the then head of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, he led investigations in the 1970s into the assassinations of president John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
After a retiring from Congress, Stokes worked as an executive attorney at the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm of Squires, Sanders and Dempsey, a position he held until 2012.
His younger brother and only sibling, the late Carl B. Stokes, who died in 1996 of cancer of the esophagus, was the first Black mayor of the city of Cleveland and of a major American city. His daughter, Angela Stokes, is a Cleveland Municipal Court judge, while another, Lori Stokes, is a broadcast journalist, as is his son, Chuck Stokes.
Louis Stokes was a Prince Hall Freemason, and a member of the Cleveland Alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He and his second wife, Jay, have seven grandchildren. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).
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