“He was a public figure. He was the chief aide to Newark’s...

“He was a public figure. He was the chief aide to Newark’s first black mayor, and president of the Board of Education. I remember being sixteen or seventeen, and attending a speech that he was giving, and the whole crowd went silent the moment he stepped up to the podium. And I remember thinking: ‘How does somebody do that?’ That’s how big of a person he was. And seeing him get so frail really flipped me out. Two days ago I walked into his hospital room and he was unresponsive. They had him hooked up to IVs and they were draining blood from his stomach into a jar. I had to leave the room, and I couldn’t go back for several hours.” (2/3)