Belleville News-Democrat
State Rep. Eddie Lee Jackson Sr. in the Illinois House Representatives in this Aug. 17, 2012 file photo. Jackson served for 8 years in the Illinois Legislature.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by the Belleville News-Democrat, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
A longtime educator, community leader and the “Dean of Politics” in East St. Louis has died. He had been fighting the novel coronavirus, according to those who knew him.
Eddie Lee Jackson Sr. served in the Illinois House of Representatives for eight years after retiring from a lengthy career as a science teacher and administrator in East St. Louis School District 189. He sat on the East St. Louis City Council for 20 years and is the father of Emeka Jackson-Hicks, the city’s former mayor.