December 27, 2009 -
Percy Sutton, pioneer, business leader, civil rights champion passed on Christmas Day.
Business
minded, Sutton sold real estate and owned a mattress factory, funeral home skating rink, and was also a full-time principal.
Also to his credit Sutton was an attorney, ran for politics while living in Harlem, running for New York city Mayor in
1977 against U.S. Representative
Ed Koch.
In 1971, Sutton co-founded the
Inner City Broadcasting
Corporation which purchased New York City's AM station, WLIB, the city's first African-American owned station.
Sutton
received the NAACP's highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, in 1987 for outstanding achievement by an African American.
President
Obama remarked that Sutton "was a true hero to African Americans in New York City and around the country."
"We
will remember him for his service to the country as a Tuskegee Airman, to New York State as a state assemblyman, to New York
City as Manhattan Borough President, and to the community of Harlem in leading the effort to revitalize the world renowned
Apollo Theatre. His life-long dedication to the fight for civil rights and his career as an entrepreneur and public servant
made the rise of countless young African Americans possible. Michelle and I extend our deepest condolences to his family on
this sad day."
Sutton is most famous for purchasing and renovating the
Apollo Theater in New York
City, saving the famed theatre that launched the careers of so many popular artists of our time. It was Sutton's creative
genius that launched the widely popular, weekly TV Series
It's Showtime at the Apollo."The Apollo and its staff stand on the shoulders of Mr. Sutton as the theater continues to flourish,"
said Jonelle Procope, president and CEO of Apollo Theater Foundation Inc.
"He will be greatly missed and will always be an integral part of the Apollo legacy."
Mr. Sutton was eighty-nine
years old and is survived by his wife, Leatrice, whom he married in 1943.
