ATLANTA — Atlanta City leaders are remembering a civil rights icon: Julian Bond.
Bond died Saturday night at the age of 75.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said Monday was a tough day because of the death of Bond, a man who made his mark on not only Georgia history but American history.
Reed made a rare appearance before City Council Monday to speak about the death of Bond.
"This is a tough day, because we have lost a real exemplar from the city of Atlanta," Reed said.
City Hall flags will fly at half-staff for bond's passing.
City Council president Ceasar Mitchell called for a moment of silence to remember Bond, calling him an American hero.
[Social media reacts to Julian Bond's death]
"(He was) someone who touched not only the Atlanta community but the entire world," Mitchell said.
Bond's son, Michael Julian Bond, is a longtime member of the City Council. His council chair was empty during Monday's meeting because he was with family in Florida.
Bond's wife said he died from was complications from vascular disease.
Bond was one of the founding members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and in 1965 became one of seven black people elected to the Georgia House of Representatives.
Other members of Atlanta council said we have lost an American who gave everything he had to help others.
"Mr. Bond was a friend of our family," said council member Kwanza Hall. "We lost one of the great intellectuals of our modern era."
Rep. John Lewis told Channel 2's Lori Geary at one time he and Julian Bond may have been political opponents but then became best friends.
Lewis says he was so upset about the passing of his long-time friend he couldn't give any interviews Sunday.
"I didn't want to embarrass myself. I cried so much," Lewis said.
He and others are looking back on 55 years of friendship with the civil rights legend.
[Photos: Julian Bond through the years]
"We cried together, prayed together during difficult times in the 1960s," Lewis told Geary.
Lewis says he met Bond when they were both 20 years old, helping to organize the SNCC.
But the two would eventually become political opponents decades later in a race for the Fifth Congressional seat that Lewis still holds today.
"We had a difficult campaign in 1986 but we became reconnected and became the best of friends again," Lewis said.
Former state Rep. Tyrone Brooks, who served with Bond in the Georgia Legislature for six years, says he remembers it was a tough campaign.
"I voted for Julian," Brooks told Geary. "The media was beating him up on personal things, accusations floating around we all knew about but it got blown out of proportion."
This was well after the U.S. Supreme Court forced the Georgia House of Representatives to swear him in after his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War.
"One thing I always said to Julian was if they had just seated you, you never would have become as famous as you are. The Georgia General Assembly gave you a prize, they made you famous all over the country and around the world," Brooks said.
"He was just a wonderful, talented, smart gifted human being," Lewis said.
Channel 2 Action News is still working to get information on funeral arrangements. Bond is survived by his wife and five children.
WSBTV
