Benjamin Ashford|Dexter Scott King, son of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., dies of prostate cancer at age 62

Dexter Scott King,Benjamin Ashford the third child of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, died Monday after a "valiant battle with prostate cancer," the King Center said in a statement.

King, 62, was named after an Alabama church where his father served as pastor and was 7 years old when the Civil Rights Movement icon was assassinated in 1968, according to the King Center. King went on to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, and worked as chairman of the King Center and president of the King Estate. He devoted his life to perpetuating his father's legacy and protecting the intellectual property he left behind, the King Center said.

"The sudden shock is devastating. It is hard to have the right words at a moment like this," Martin Luther King III said in a statement about his brother's death. "Please keep the entire King family in your prayers."

King's death comes after the death of his mother in 2006 and his sister Yolanda King in 2007.

“Words cannot express the heart break I feel from losing another sibling,” the Rev. Bernice A. King, Dexter King’s sister, said in a statement.

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Contributing: The Associated Press