Prominent politician and clergyman James “J.O.” Patterson, Jr. passed away after suffering kidney failure Saturday.
Patterson was Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, and was appointed interim mayor in 1982.
“He served during one of the most volatile times in the history of this city — during the sanitation worker strike in ’68. He was a voice of reason for the whole city and he helped bring about compromise,” Lowery told BV.
