Philadelphia Area Remembers Impact of Maya Angelou, Dead at 86
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Author and poet Maya Angelou's presence has been felt throughout the world, including right here in Philadelphia.
Mayor Michael Nutter called Dr. Maya Angelou "America's poet -- a woman whose light will be missed."
"Certainly, her words and her literature and her presence will never leave," the mayor said today, after news of her death at age 86 was released (see related story).
Angelou's words of wisdom and her many contributions to American literature garnered her the prestigious Marian Anderson Award in 2008, along with Norman Lear.
And while frail in the past few years, she performed at Cheyney University in 2012, leaving the audience in awe.
"Everybody in the audience knew we were so special to spend these moments with this extraordinary woman," recalls president Michelle Howard-Vital.
And Roz McPherson, incoming president of the Urban League of Philadelphia, spent Memorial Day weekend with her longtime mentor, whom she calls Auntie.
"She was still making plans and still moving forward with a mind as powerful as ever," McPherson noted.
And McPherson, like many others, says that Angelou may be gone but her inspiration will live on.