This makes me sad. Dating myself, I remember him first from his role as the Principal on a show called Room 222 (where a black teacher tries to teach the students at a high school to be more tolerant or different races, religions, etc.)
Aside from my parents who were my main role models, this show (and this actor) helped form my world view that (hopefully) excludes basing opinions and judging on race/religion/creed/etc. other than my own.
RIP