President Barack Obama on Friday plans to deliver the eulogy at the funeral services for a Democratic state senator who died last week in the attack on a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, the White House announced Monday.
Both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will attend the funeral services for state Sen. Clementa Pinckney (D), who also served as a pastor at Emanuel AME in downtown Charleston, the White House said.
Pinckney, who was remembered by colleagues as the “moral compass” of the state Senate, started preaching and legislating from a young age. He became an ordained minister at age 18 and joined the state House at age 23, according to The Associated Press. Pinckney was survived by his wife, Jennifer, and two daughters, Eliana and Malana.
