Maynard Jackson
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Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. (March 23, 1938 — June 23, 2003) was the former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and the first African-American mayor in Atlanta history. He served two terms in office (1974 until 1982) and a third from 1990 to 1994.
His grandfather was civil rights leader John Wesley Dobbs. Jackson graduated from Morehouse College in 1956 when he was only eighteen.
He helped rebuild Hartsfield International Airport to modern standards, which was renamed Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in his honor shortly after his death. He was also mayor when MARTA began rapid transit service, and when Atlanta won as host of the 1996 Centennial Summer Olympics in September 1990. His term as mayor also coincided with the Atlanta Child Murders case, in which he played a prominent role.
He died of cardiac arrest at an Arlington, Virginia hospital after suffering a heart attack at Reagan National Airport in June 2003. He is buried on commons ground at Oakland Cemetery on a plot dedicated by the City of Atlanta.
Jackson was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.
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