B.B. King believed that anyone could play the blues, and that “as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.” But no one could play the blues like this guitar master, who died Thursday, May 14, 2015, in …

When N. Purcelle Brown was honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1960, he hoped to find work in air conditioning and refrigeration using the training he received in the military. He also had worked as a mechanic on B-52 …

Soul and R&B singer Ben E. King, famous for his deep, velvety baritone voice and the classic hit song “Stand by Me,” died of natural causes in New Jersey at 76. He died Thursday, April 30, 2015, his publicist, Phil …

Two of professional golf’s successful African-American golfers have died — Calvin Peete and Pete Brown. Mr. Peete, the most successful African-American professional golfer on the PGA Tour prior to Tiger Woods, died Wednesday, April 29, 2015, in Atlanta.

Dr. Wilburn Macio Cameron Jr. was known as a man of few words. But he would greet you with a warm smile. He was affectionately known to family and friends as “Little Wee,” but also was nicknamed “Wee” and “Doc.” …

For more than 40 years, candidates for public office called on Bessie Mae Peyton Jones to seek her support. A fixture in the Randolph community with a long record of community service, Mrs. Jones was regarded as a key figure …

Percy Sledge, the R&B legend whose song “When a Man Loves a Woman,” has become a “first-dance” anthem for newlyweds at wedding receptions, has died at his home in Baton Rouge, La. He was 74. William “Beau” Clark, coroner for …

Dr. Gardner C. Taylor, widely considered the dean of the nation’s black preachers and “the poet laureate of American Protestantism,” died Sunday, April 5, 2015, after a ministerial career that spanned more than six decades. He was 96. “Dr. Taylor …

Richmond’s Thomas Jefferson High School and Virginia Commonwealth University basketball fans remember Lamont C. “Monty” Knight as the silky smooth guard who lit up the scoreboard with his high-hanging jump shot. He also could light up a room with his …

Eugene Patton, the stagehand who earned fame as “Gene Gene The Dancing Machine” on NBC’s quirky television talent program “The Gong Show,” has died, his family announced. He died Monday, March 9, 2015, in Pasadena, Calif., after suffering from diabetes, …

Rovenia Vaughan was a trailblazing member of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP. In 1999, she was the first woman to be elected president of the state’s largest civil rights organization. The state branch was started in the 1930s. …

Horace Fisher III was raised with an abiding love of music. “He told me his mother, Gertrude Anderson Fisher, would play music as she cleaned the house on Saturdays and they would sing to the music,” said his wife, Brenda …

Earl Lloyd, a Virginia native who was among the early stars of the annual CIAA tournament and the first African-American to play in the NBA, has died. Mr. Lloyd, 86, was living in Crossville, Tenn., with his wife, Charlita, at …

Eva Burrell Brinkley was an educator and public servant. Whether she was teaching kindergartners during her 39 years with Richmond Public Schools, being involved in a bevy of community organizations or volunteering as an aide at the Virginia General Assembly …

Elizabeth “Beth” Walker Mickens Randolph loved spending time with her trailblazing grandmother, Maggie L. Walker, the first black female founder and president of a bank in America. Mrs. Walker chartered the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Jackson Ward in …