Payton died Thursday at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore after a brief illness, said Lee Daniels, spokesman for the New York-based NAACP fund.
President Barack Obama said in a prepared statement that he and first lady Michelle Obama were saddened to learn that their “dear friend” had died.
He was a “true champion of equality,” Obama said. “The legal community has lost a legend, and, while we mourn John's passing, we will never forget his courage and fierce opposition to discrimination in all its forms.”
