The Reverend Simmie Lee Harvey, a New Orleans minister and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, has died at the age of 90.

The SCLC said on its Web site that Harvey died September 10 of complications from a massive stroke.

Funeral services are set for Saturday at Israelite Baptist Church in New Orleans. Harvey’s body is to lie in repose Friday at Gallier Hall on historic St. Charles Avenue.

“Rev. Harvey was one of the original leaders of SCLC,” Dr. Joseph Lowery, SCLC past president said in a statement. “He was a genuine and authentic person. He wore the badge of SCLC on his coat and in his heart.”

The SCLC was founded in New Orleans and held its 50th annual convention in the city earlier this year.