Upon the news of the death of former President Theodore Roosevelt in 1919, his son Archie dispatched a simple five-word telegram to his far-flung family: "The old lion has died." That sentiment came to mind last week as the city mourned former U.S. Representative, State Representative and City Councilman Lucien Blackwell, and at least 3,000 tearful mourners lined up for his funeral.

"The best thing you can say about Lu Blackwell is he stood for something," a teary-eyed Mayor John Street told the capacity crowd at Blackwell's funeral, held at Sharon Baptist Church in Wynnefield last Thursday.

"Nowadays, when most politicians talk, you can't tell what they stand for, or if they stand for anything," Street continued to the sound of mourners' sobs. "Not Lu. You always knew what he stood for."

Mostly what Lucien Blackwell stood for was people, particularly people who were alienated from the political process and didn't know how to stand for themselves. As city councilman from 1975 to 1991, Blackwell was responsible for the minority set-aside that established a 25 percent guaranteed minority participation in city contracts. As a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Blackwell fought to get the governor to outlaw medical experimentation on state prisoners, and even went on a six-week hunger strike to bring attention to the deplorable conditions in Philadelphia public housing.

City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. has known Blackwell for his entire life. As the son of the first African-American mayor of Philadelphia, Goode saw his father benefit from the advice of Lu Blackwell, and says he sought the same counsel throughout his short political career.

"To me, I see Lu Blackwell as a Christian warrior, a man whose passion and strength of conviction was unequaled," Goode said earlier this week. "But I also see him as a highly effective legislator who has left a continuing legacy across this city and the state. His commitment to affirmative action and minority participation has opened the doors for thousands of workers and business owners. His passion for issues that affect the disenfranchised sparked many young people to consider politics as a career, myself included. My father wasn't my only role model. When it came to the commitment to the fight, the passion of politics, it was Lucien Blackwell."

Born to Thomas and Mary Blackwell on August 1, 1931 in Fayette County, Blackwell moved with his family to Philadelphia when he was a boy. Thomas Blackwell opened a mom-and-pop grocery store on Haverford Avenue in West Philly and became heavily involved in church, the neighborhood and local politics. A young West Philly minister named William Shaw befriended the elder Blackwell, and watched Lu grow up in the tough neighborhood, dividing his interest between schoolwork and athletics. Now the Rev. Shaw is pastor of White Rock Baptist Church and president of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. He said it was his sad duty to deliver Blackwell's eulogy last Thursday.

"I've known Lu and his family for well over 40 years," Shaw said. "I remember when he got out of the Army and wanted to get involved in politics. His dad owned a store at Markoe Street and Haverford Avenue, and the family lived upstairs from the store. He was a little wild as a young man, but what young man isn't? But when he came back from the war he had a commitment to people you could see. I knew then that he would do some good in this world."

A light middleweight champion in the Army, Blackwell used his love of boxing as a tool to help the young men of the community find a little direction and discipline. If they're in the gym training, Blackwell reasoned, they're not in the streets causing trouble. The idea worked out so well that he maintained a lifetime commitment to boxing and athletics as a key to reaching out to kids, and when he was elected to City Council Blackwell created a new position in the managing director's office to deal specifically with services to the city's troubled youth.

Another clear indication of his love for the sport of boxing and his lifelong friendships with boxers was the list of pallbearers at Blackwell's funeral, which included such Philly notables in the sweet science as former heavyweight champ Joe Frazier and his son Marvis, former middleweight champ Eugene "Cyclone" Hart and reigning undisputed middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins.

City Councilman Michael Nutter has proposed renaming West River Drive in Blackwell's honor, and has already gotten support for the idea from his colleagues in Council, including Council President Anna Verna.

"It would be a fitting tribute to my friend and colleague to name West River Drive after him," Verna said. "I had the privilege of serving with Lucien for quite a few years, and he had a sense of dedication and commitment that's rare in politics. He spoke eloquently and with such passion about the plight of the homeless, that I believe the fact that we have homeless shelters at all in Philadelphia today is due primarily to Lu Blackwell."

That Lucien Blackwell's influence in city politics will be missed goes without saying. The moving tributes to him continue to pour in from across the globe, including telegrams from U.S. Congress, foreign heads of state, and Blackwell's old friend Nelson Mandela. Their sadness at his passing could have been easily summed up with the same five simple words used by Archie Roosevelt: The old lion has died.