WNY leaders remember John Lewis

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Photo credit CORRECTS POLITICAL PARTY FROM REPUBLICAN TO DEMOCRAT - FILE - In this Thursday, May 10, 2007 file photo, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., in his office on Capitol Hill, in Washington. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Leaders in Buffalo are mourning the death of civil rights icon and longtime Congressman John Lewis, who died Friday.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said he is saddened by the passing and wrote on Twitter that Lewis was a champion for positive change.

I’m saddened by the passing of Congressman John Lewis. He stood on the front lines in the fight for equal rights & was a champion for positive change. Rep. Lewis was an example for Black leaders & was the moral conscience of Congress. Join me in remembering his life & legacy. https://t.co/Wv7LSiLc8X

— Byron W. Brown (@MayorByronBrown) July 18, 2020

"He was always someone who I've looked up to and who I felt did the hard things in order to make big change," Darius Pridgen, Buffalo Common Council President and Reverend of True Bethel Baptist Church, said. "In the real view of what we're facing today with people asking for change and depending on elected officials and leaders to help lead that change, the passing of John Lewis is huge to someone like me who looked up to people like him who actually had a chance in my life to see him in action. I wasn't able to see Dr. King in action. I just heard and read and looked at clips. With John Lewis, we were able to see him in action and see all Americans benefit from his life."

READ MORE: John Lewis, lion of civil rights and Congress, dies at 80

"We have physically lost an American icon today," Reed wrote on Twitter. "But John's kindness, energy, and unwavering commitment to secure justice, peace, and love for all will be with us forever. God bless John, and God bless his family and the American people as we join them in grieving his passing."

It is with great sadness that I awake today to hear of the passing of my friend and colleague John Lewis. Serving the American people together in the halls of Congress, I will miss his presence, strength, and loving personal greeting that always started with - "hello my brother!"

— Tom Reed (@RepTomReed) July 18, 2020

Lewis died Friday night. He was diagnosed in December with advanced pancreatic cancer.