Mort Lucoff, a longtime journalist and Miami courts stringer for The Associated Press, died in his sleep. He was 88.

Joel Lucoff said his father died Sunday. He had recently suffered from pneumonia and other ailments.

The New York native grew up in Miami and earned journalism and history degrees from the University of Missouri and University of Florida. He worked for newspapers in Hartford, Connecticut, and Buffalo, New York, where his son said Lucoff interviewed both the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Lucoff covered local government for the Miami News from 1963 to 1988 and had a column, “Ins and Outs.” After that, he worked for the Miami-Dade County clerk's office until 2000 when he began stringing for the AP until recently.

Funeral services are set Tuesday.