Vernon Jordan, the civil-rights activist who worked with presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama, has died at 85. According to The New York Times, Jordan’s death was confirmed in a statement from his daughter, Vickee Jordan. His rise in the civil-rights world began after he graduated from Howard University School of Law in the early 1960s. In 1971, while he was still in his thirties, Jordan was picked to become head of the Urban League—the role where his involvement in top-level politics began. His warmest relationship was with former President Bill Clinton, advising the then-Arkansas governor during his 1992 presidential campaign and then acting as counsel to both Clintons for decades to come. NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement: “Today, the world lost an influential figure in the fight for civil rights and American politics, Vernon Jordan. An icon to the world and a lifelong friend to the NAACP, his contribution to moving our society toward justice is unparalleled.”