Civil rights attorney Lewis Myers Jr. passes away

Civil rights attorney Lewis Myers Jr., who worked on a key lawsuit against racial discrimination in Mississippi's higher education system, passed away on Saturday.

He was 70 years old.

"We've lost a loving husband, wonderful father and dear friend ... legal scholar, civil rights activist, and advocate for the poor and marginalised," CNN quoted a statement from his family.

Myers' firm website says that he was involved in a notable desegregation lawsuit, Ayers vs. Mississippi, that was filed in the 1970s and eventually reached the US Supreme Court.

It led to the state operating its higher-education system under court-ordered desegregation in 1995, CNN quoted The Clarion Ledger.

In 2005, the state began making payments on a USD 503 million settlement to three historically black colleges, because of Lewis Myers Jr.