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From the NY Times:

He was hailed as Harlem’s king or its chairman, the eloquent author of some of its prouder moments, the dapper mentor to its sons and daughters. As news of Percy E. Sutton’s death spread on Sunday, the sadness spanned generations and city blocks, from Mr. Sutton’s home on 135th Street to the doorstep of the Apollo, that cultural heart of Harlem that Mr. Sutton jolted to life.

“He was a renaissance black man,” said Philip Bulgar, 45, an assistant manager at Manna’s Soul Food Restaurant, summing up a life too rich for anyone to fully recall. That did not stop everyone from trying. “They don’t make too many brothers like that anymore,” Mr. Bulgar said.

RELATED: Percy Sutton, Lawyer For Malcolm X, Dies At 89

Mr. Sutton died on Saturday at age 89. He had been a Tuskegee Airman, Malcolm X’s lawyer, the Manhattan borough president and a media mogul.

RELATED: Harlem Losing Its Place As Center Of Black Politics

On Sunday, Harlem’s residents sprinkled that legend with more personal recollections of Mr. Sutton: as a neighbor giving advice, a quiet guest at a funeral, a stylish fixture on the streets of Harlem, who dressed down only when he got to his country house and sat on his tractor.

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