Rosa Parks’ rent angel dies

The guy who quietly paid Rosa Parks’ rent in Detroit for more than a decade passed away Friday.

That would be Mike Ilitch, the Little Caesars founder and Detroit Tigers owner.

For more than a decade, Ilitch paid for Rosa Parks' Riverfront Apartments rent in downtown Detroit, according to CNN affiliate WXYZ.

That story came to light thanks to Damon Keith, a Detroit native and federal judge.

"They don't go around saying it, but I want to, at this point, let them know, how much the Ilitches not only meant to the city, but they meant so much for Rosa Parks, who was the mother of the civil rights movement," Keith told WXYZ.

Read More

Rosa Parks, the civil rights icon, died in 2005.

 

Her refusal to move to the back of the bus so whites could have a better seat sparked the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott. Parks later moved to Detroit.