Joseph McNeil , a civil rights pioneer who sat at a segregated lunch counter in defiance of the Jim Crow South as one of the "Greensboro Four," has died. The longtime Hempstead resident was 83.

McNeil died Thursday at Good Shepherd Hospice in Port Jefferson of complications of Parkinson’s disease, according to his son, Joseph McNeil Jr., who described his father as a "thoughtful" man who "understood the power of his words."

"He believed in hard work and being of service to people who couldn’t be at the table," McNeil Jr. told Newsday Thursday in a phone interview. "That was his goal, to give folks an opportunity who wouldn’t have had an opportunity without someone like him opening the door."

Passing down his story

McNeil shared his story with school children , including students at

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