Friends, family and colleagues bid farewell Wednesday to civil rights attorney and former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton at Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, Manhattan.

Sutton, who was the city's longest-serving Manhattan borough president, died the day after Christmas at the age of 89.

In addition to his wide-ranging contributions to black radio, politics, race relations and law, Sutton, who known as "The Chairman" to the Harlem community, was instrumental in saving the Apollo Theater and creating the New York City Marathon.

Sutton had formed a political group with former Mayor David Dinkins, Manhattan Congressman Charles Rangel and former State Senator Basil Paterson that was nicknamed the "Gang of Four." Now, the group's three surviving members praised Sutton for his lifelong support of Harlem and its residents.

"Percy was more than the architect of the Gang of Four. He was our inspiration. He was our guiding force," said Dinkins. "Had there not been a Percy Sutton, there certainly would not have been a Mayor Dinkins."

"He was always there for the underdog, always there for someone who did not have a fighting chance. That was Percy Sutton," said Paterson, the father of New York's governor.

"I feel that a part of my life is to make certain that Percy Ellis Sutton never dies," said Rangel. "That as long as there's someone without a job, without a home, without an education, without hope and without dreams, those who are blessed in knowing of him or knowing him have an obligation to continue this great man's work."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was among the nearly two-dozen speakers, announced that city flags were lowered in Sutton's honor and that a Harlem complex of three schools will be renamed the Percy Ellis Sutton Educational Complex.

"By jumping on that train bound for New York at the age of 12, Percy took his destiny in his own hands, and began a journey that would change the course of our city and our country," said the mayor. "Percy proved the point that anyone, even the son of a former slave, could come to New York, live out his dreams and make a huge difference. And boy, did he ever"

A longtime associate, the Reverend Al Sharpton, left, delivered the eulogy and called Sutton "the quintessential African-American leader of our time," who "fought a good fight" for civil rights from boyhood to old age.

"[African-Americans] were qualified to be [New York City's] mayor before '89, but America wasn't ready. If it wasn't for the Percy Suttons, America wouldn't have been ready," said Sharpton. "He didn't let America change him, he changed America."

About 10 Tuskegee Airmen who fought alongside Sutton in World War II attended the funeral and gave the late politician a special salute.

Performer Stevie Wonder, right, offered a tribute in song and relatives recalled fond memories of Sutton, who was known to family as "Uncle Jimmy."

"Thank you grandfather. I love you, grandfather, and I know that you know that we all love you," said Keisha Sutton-James, Percy Sutton's granddaughter.

"Percy Sutton was black and proud before James Brown asked us to be," said Clarence B. Jones, an advisor and speechwriter for the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

A video statement from Governor David Paterson was played during the ceremony and United States Attorney General Eric Holder read a statement from President Barack Obama.

"I'm a proud son of New York City, and Percy has been a part of my life. I worked for him. He paved the way for my generation," Holder said.

"We're indebted to Percy Sutton in so many ways,” said the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who also spoke at the funeral. “You know, a star may be bright in one thing and does it well, but Percy was a galaxy of stars. His work in civil rights, working on Jim Crow barriers from Texas to New York, as a lawyer on visible and not so visible cases, that dimension of his work is stellar, his work as a state rep, and creating a caucus in Albany began to alter its culture, and then as borough president and then a groundbreaking run for mayor, which laid the ground for David Dinkins."

Dignitaries who filled the packed pews included Senator Charles Schumer, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, civil rights leader Ruby Dee, Malcolm X's daughter Attallah Shabazz and Rachel Robinson, the widow of baseball great Jackie Robinson.

Following the funeral, a motorcade drove Sutton's body past his former law office on 125th Street and the Apollo Theater.