⁍ Obama said Lewis ‘never stopped providing wisdom and encouragement to me’ and former first lady Michelle.
⁍ Lewis, a Democrat who served as the US representative for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District for more than three decades, died Friday at the age of 80 after a six-month battle with cancer.
⁍ Obama awarded Lewis the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 2011.

– Barack Obama is paying tribute to civil rights icon and Georgia Rep. John Lewis, who has died of cancer at age 80. “When I was elected President of the United States, I hugged him on the inauguration stand before I was sworn in and told him I was only there because of the sacrifices he made,” Obama said in a statement. “John Lewis never stopped providing wisdom and encouragement to me and former first lady Michelle, and their family. We will miss him dearly.” Obama met Lewis when he was in law school, and “I told him then that he was one of my heroes,” the former president said. “Years later, when I was elected a US Senator, I told him that I stood on his shoulders.” Lewis “believed that in all of us, there exists the capacity for great courage, a longing to do what’s right, a willingness to love all people, and to extend to them their God-given rights to dignity and respect,” Obama said. “And it’s because he saw the best in all of us that he will continue, even in his passing, to serve as a beacon in that long journey towards a more perfect union.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/15/business/bunkers-new-zealand-intl-hnk/index.html