Dr. Virgil Wood, Civil Rights icon who worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has died

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Civil Rights activist Reverend Dr. Virgil Wood, who worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has died, ABC13 learned Monday.

Wood was one of the last lieutenants of King, working with him in Michigan. He also served as a member of the National Executive Board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC, for the last decade of King's life and helped to raise money for the cause.

The video above is from a 2019 interview with Houston-area leaders who knew Dr. King.

ABC13's Melanie Lawson interviewed Wood in 2019 as Houstonians who knew King reflected on the revered leader's life.

Wood explained how he was a young pastor in Virginia when he first met King.

He knew the brilliant leader and charismatic public speaker, but he also knew the private man.

"He was a fun-loving guy. I mean, he loved his ham hocks and food, smoking, he was a chain smoker," Wood laughed. "The good joke, he always had a joke to tell."

Wood, a native of Charlottesville, Virginia, was ordained in his late teens.

He moved to the Houston area after retiring from his pastoral duties in Providence, Rhode Island.

According to a 2007 Houston Chronicle article, Wood spoke to students at Austin High School for years as well as appeared at numerous churches.

Wood was 93.