My friend and mentor Mel King died at the age of 94 on March 28, 2023. Mel King was instrumental in the early stages of these changes and a brilliant advisor and advocate all along the way. Flynn won handily but Mel’s Rainbow Coalition was a bridge between Fred Hampton’s original Rainbow Coalition and Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition campaign for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency in 1984. In fact, at a festschrift for Mel King at MIT in 2018, I learned that Mel had been instrumental in making FabLabs happen. Mel King was a quiet but forceful person who never quit.

Source: New York Times April 12, 2023 23:15 UTC