Cecil L. ‘Chip’ Murray, influential pastor and civil rights leader in Los Angeles, dies

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An influential pastor and civil rights leader in Los Angeles has died. The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray died Friday, according to an announcement from the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. Murray spent 27 years as pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles. The church was small when he took over. But by the time he retired, it had grown into an 18,000-member mega church. Murray emerged as a calming presence during and after the 1992 Los Angeles race riots.