Dr. Mutulu Shakur, stepfather of rapper Tupac Shakur, dies in Los Angeles

Dr. Mutulu Shakur, one of the earliest members of the Black Liberation Army and the Republic of New Africa, who was the stepfather and main influence in the early life of famous rapper Tupac Shakur, died July 6 surrounded by his family members in Los Angeles seven months after being released from prison on medical parole. He was 72.

Shakur married Afeni Shakur, a member of the Black Panther Party and the mother of future rap artist Tupac Shakur, in 1975. The couple had a daughter, Sekiywa. Mutulu and Afeni were divorced in 1982. Four other children survive their father – Mopreme, Nzingha, Chinua, and Ayize. 

Mutulu Shakur, a credentialed acupuncturist and community health advocate in the New York Hospital system, was indicted as the ringleader of  the October 1981 robbery of a Brink’s truck in Nanuet, New York, and in the slaying of a Brink’s guard and two Nyack, New York, police officers. 

After eluding captivity for more than five years, Shakur was arrested in 1986 and was sentenced in 1988 to 60 years in federal prison. He was also indicted as an accomplice in the escape of Assata Shakur, now living in Cuba, from a New Jersey prison in 1979.

Shakur was diagnosed with terminal bone marrow cancer after 35 years in prison and was released to the care of his family.  Final arrangements were incomplete at press time Wednesday.