View gallery Image Credit: Getty Images Reverend Jesse Jackson, the civil rights icon who fought for equality alongside Martin Luther King Jr., died on February 17, 2026. He was 84 years old. During his final months, Jackson had been hospitalized for his condition, a neuromuscular disease called progressive supranuclear palsy. Jackson's organization, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, broke the news of his death in an Instagram statement that day, noting that he "died peacefully.