RALEIGH, N.C.  – Colleagues of the late Sen. Vernon Malone recalled him as a man who hated prejudice and poverty and wasn’t afraid to fight to improve the lot for everyone in North Carolina.

The Senate approved a resolution Thursday honoring Malone, a Wake County Democrat who died in April at the age of 77.
   
Malone was a four-term senator who formerly served on the Wake County school board while it went through a contentious merger with the Raleigh city schools. He served as a county commissioner from 1984 until his election to the Senate in 2002.

Current senators were emotional in floor speeches as they remembered his sense of humor and pointed interest in improving public education.
 
Like the Senate, the House approved unanimously the same resolution later Thursday. County school board while it went through a contentious merger with the Raleigh city schools. He served as a county commissioner from 1984 until his election to the Senate in 2002.

Current senators were emotional in floor speeches as they remembered his sense of humor and pointed interest in improving public education.

Like the Senate, the House approved unanimously the same resolution later Thursday.