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Obama hails Sutton as a national hero

President Obama yesterday hailed Percy Sutton — the crusading civil-rights lawyer, former Manhattan borough president and media mogul who died Saturday at 89 — as “a true hero” to the African-American community and the entire nation.

“His lifelong dedication to the fight for civil rights and his career as an entrepreneur and public servant made the rise of countless young African-Americans possible,” said the president.

Obama was just one of scores of political leaders praising Sutton, the son of a former slave.

Jesse Jackson relied on Sutton for advice during his two unsuccessful presidential runs.

“He never stopped building bridges and laying the groundwork,” Jackson said. “We are very glad to be the beneficiaries of his work.”

Gov. Paterson called Sutton “one of New York’s and this nation’s most influential African-American leaders.”

“Percy was fiercely loyal, compassionate and a truly kind soul,” Paterson said.

Mayor Bloomberg announced that flags on city buildings will fly at half-staff in honor of the former borough president and state assemblyman.

At the Apollo Theater — the landmark Harlem auditorium purchased by a group headed by Sutton in 1981 when it was on the verge of being torn down — the Rev. Al Sharpton credited him with the economic revitalization of the neighborhood.

“Whether it was the Apollo or radio or black politics, Percy Sutton was a pioneer,” Sharpton said. “No African-American has spanned the breadth of disciplines and areas of life like Percy Sutton.”

Born in San Antonio, Texas, the youngest of 15 children, Sutton served with the legendary Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, went on to attend Brooklyn Law School and established a successful law practice in Harlem in the 1950s.

He represented Malcolm X, handled the cases of civil-rights protesters arrested in the South and was twice elected president of the NAACP’s New York office.

Sutton was elected to the state legislature in 1965 but quit to take over as Manhattan borough president when his predecessor, Constance Baker Motley, was appointed to the federal bench. He served until 1977, when he made an unsuccessful run for mayor.

In 1971, with his brother Oliver, Sutton purchased WLIB-AM, making it the first black-owned radio station in New York City.

He retired in 1991 but never stopped being an adviser, mentor and confidante to the nation’s power brokers.

alex.ginsberg@nypost.com