An alliance with Hezekiah Jackson IV was known to make or break campaigns in Birmingham and Jefferson County.

For decades, politicians and political hopefuls made a visit to Jackson among their first campaign stops.

Jackson, the former longtime president of the Metro Birmingham Branch of the NAACP, died Tuesday after an extended illness. He was 65 years old.

“He had a level of intellect like none other. He understood the dynamics of politics,” said, State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, a longtime friend of Jackson. “Hezekiah was always the person that most elected officials around here went to — black, white, Democrat and Republican.”

Visitation will be Friday from 1-6 p.m. at 45th Street Missionary Baptist Church. His funeral will be held Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Sardis Missionary Baptist Church.

Jackson was a fixture in Birmingham’s political, civic, and social scene.

Givan said Jackson was widely respected for his devotion to senior citizens and others who were routinely overlooked.

“Every program was geared toward honoring someone who normally would not have the opportunity to be on the big stage,” Givan told AL.com. “And that’s something that he did that nobody else did,” Givan said. “For him, it ultimately boiled down to service — helping somebody along the way.”

Regina Carr-Hope said she met Jackson decades ago when he came to dinner at her family’s home.

“He was for everybody,” said Carr-Hope, a former principal of Wenonah High School. “He has helped so many people in this city and other cities and states as well. He would travel wherever there was a problem. Whatever he was working with, he’d put his entire mind, body and soul into it.”

On a personal side, Jackson’s friends each described his flamboyant one-a-kind clothing style that became a trademark.

“Hezekiah was a whole universe within itself,” Givan said. “He was true to who he was. He didn’t try to pretend to be anything else other than Hezekiah Jackson.”

Jackson ran for Birmingham city council in 2005. He also served as a committee assistant for two members of the Birmingham City Council.

And his long public career also came with controversy.

The national NAACP in 2018 suspended Jackson’s membership and leadership of the Birmingham chapter following allegations that he worked with companies to convince residents of north Birmingham to refuse to have their soil tested for possible toxins from nearby manufacturing plants.

Jackson’s involvement was alleged during the trial of Balch & Bingham attorney Joel Gilbert and Drummond Company VP Dave Roberson. Both men were convicted on six criminal charges of bribery, conspiracy, money laundering and three counts of honest services wire fraud.

Former State Rep. Oliver Robinson, who pleaded guilty to charges related to the scandal, testified that he paid Jackson in cash to help in the conspiracy.

Jackson vehemently denied the allegations. He was never charged with a crime.

“He was denied the opportunity to defend himself,” said Terry Collins, a former NAACP vice president who served under Jackson. “The fact that he was not prosecuted, then I would have to assume they found no evidence to support the allegation.”

Collins said Jackson’s decades of leadership were marked by strong community and civic involvement.

“During the 20 years he helped hundreds of people in many different ways, and he honored probably thousands of people.” Collins said. “With his position with the NAACP we had at least one program a month where he honored people for their contributions in the community.”

Collins said Jackson raised money to open a physical office for Birmingham’s NAACP chapter. All the while, Jackson was not paid for his service or time, Collins noted.

Collins listed several initiatives and projects that Jackson led.

“I’m excited to talk about Hezekiah, because he came in years later but picked up where we left off,” said Collins, who was a civil rights foot soldier in Birmingham during the civil rights era.

Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson credits Jackson, a former Birmingham neighborhood president and officer, for encouraging her involvement in leadership and politics.

“Hezekiah started training me and wanting me to be a neighborhood officer,” Tyson recalled.

Jackson previously served as president of Birmingham’s Inglenook Neighborhood and the East Birmingham Community He rose to serve as president of the city’s Citizens Advisory Board, the umbrella organization for Birmingham’s neighborhood associations.

“He just did everything he could to try to help the community. He set an example like that,” Tyson said. “It was the forgotten people that he served.”

Jackson served as a representative sent to Washington D.C. when the city of Birmingham launched its campaign to have the Civil Rights District declared a national monument. Paulette Roby also served alongside him during the trip.

Roby is the chair of the Birmingham Civil Rights Activist Committee.

“Hezekiah has been a mentor to so many organizations and helping them get off the ground, telling and leading us on which way we should do this and do that,” Roby said. “If he was able to help you, he would help you, and if he couldn’t, he would put you in touch with someone that could.”

Roby paused when thinking about the final days of her friend’s life.

“He got us ready for this and in the last message I got from him, he thanked me for being a part of his ‘fabulous life’ he said, and ‘I’ll see you on the other side.”’

Hope also paused when describing Jackson and summarizing his impact.

“He had a different kind of DNA, and it was a DNA for wanting to help people,” she said. “His ultimate legacy is people, doing the right thing for people, his community, his family, and for God. He did it his way.”