PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Former Philadelphia NAACP president J. Whyatt “Jerry” Mondesire, a longtime civil rights activist, editor and publisher, has died. He was 65.
Mondesire’s family said in a statement he died Sunday at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Philly.com reports that Mondesire was having dialysis at a local hospital Friday when he suffered a brain aneurysm, and he was transferred to Jefferson and placed on a ventilator.
Mondesire, longtime president of Philadelphia’s NAACP chapter until last year and publisher of the Philadelphia Sunday Sun, was a former reporter and editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer. A founding member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, he also was a community affairs host on WDAS-FM.
Mayor Michael Nutter lauded his “passion and commitment to political and social empowerment” and said he and many others had “benefited from his insight and relentless efforts to improve the life condition for African-Americans and so many others in our city, state and nation.”
“Jerry took on the big challenges and put his heart and soul into his work,” Nutter said in a statement.