Julian Bond was a hero and, I'm privileged to say, a friend. Justice and equality was the mission that spanned his life: from his leadership of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to his founding role with the Southern Poverty Law Center, to his pioneering service in the Georgia legislature and his steady hand at the helm of the NAACP. Michelle and I have benefited from his example, his counsel, and his friendship, and we offer our prayers and sympathies to his wife Pamela and his children.
Julian Bond helped change this country for the better. And what better way to be remembered than that.
NOTE: The statement referred to Pamela S. Horowitz, wife, and Horace M. Bond II, Jeffrey A. Bond, Michael J. Bond, Phyllis J. Bond McMillan, and Julia L. Bond, children, of Mr. Bond.
Barack Obama, Statement on the Death of H. Julian Bond Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/310798