Roscoe Dixon, a Memphis Democrat who was prominent in state politics for more than a decade before his 2006 conviction in an FBI corruption sting, and who later advocated for restoration of voting rights, died at a local hospital Thursday. He was 71.
Dixon s sister confirmed his death, which was attributed to a lengthy, undisclosed illness.
Former mayor of Shelby County and then Memphis, A C Wharton, who had been friends with Dixon since 1973 and who had hired him at the county after Dixon resigned his state senate seat in 2005, said he personified public service. And it was Dixon who borrowed a pickup truck to help the Whartons move to Memphis in 1973, Wharton said.
Family, South Memphis community remembers Pastor Donnell Cobbins
Family, community remember South Memphis pastor By Joyce Peterson | December 15, 2020 at 10:32 PM CST - Updated December 15 at 10:34 PM
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - The death of a local pastor is being felt from the streets of South Memphis to the boardrooms of the cityâs power brokers. Pastor Donnell Cobbins, a casualty of COVID-19, leaves a lasting legacy behind.
Donnell and his younger brother Darrell grew up in humble beginnings in South Memphis. They got good grades, and their mother, an employee at The Peabody, got them into MUS, a prestigious private school in Memphis. They are a family full of strength and character, and a family now mending a broken heart.