‘They Didn’t Just Love Him. They Knew Him.’ Young Atlanta Activists Mourn John Lewis.

In Mr. Lewis, they saw a kindred spirit. He had been the youngest of the major figures in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He was just 23 when he gave one of the most fiery speeches at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (Others in his cohort pleaded with him to soften some of the most heated language in his speech.)

He moved to Atlanta in 1963 to become chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and made the city his home.

“He was never condescending or shaming toward younger people and their choice of actions, the way they decided to protest, what they were protesting,” said Jasmine Amussen, an editor of Burnaway, a magazine focused on arts and activism in the South.

“It was very reassuring and loving,” she added. “It almost feels like, I don’t know.” She paused as her voice broke. “This is a really tough time for this city.”

In Atlanta, Mr. Lewis has been given the kind of tributes reserved for the most prominent people in the city’s history: His face fills a 65-foot mural on the side of a downtown building declaring him a hero, and across the Interstate, a busy thoroughfare was named the John Lewis Freedom Parkway in 2018. An exhibit showcasing his life and work greets visitors at Atlanta’s international airport.

Yet many in Atlanta became accustomed to seeing him in the flesh — shopping for produce and shaking hands at the Publix supermarket on Cascade Road and stopping in at Mary Mac’s Tea Room. (When Jo Carter, its longtime server and an Atlanta institution in her own right, retired in 2017, he was at the party.) Clerks at department stores would tip him off when suits were going on sale; he had a limited budget as a public servant, aides said, but he was also thrilled by a bargain.

Andrew Aydin, who worked as a policy adviser and digital director for Mr. Lewis, remembered him trying to place an order in a Burger King drive-through. “The lady, through the speaker, said, ‘Is that you, John Lewis?’ ” Mr. Aydin recalled.