Joe Biden will return to Wilmington Thursday to attend the funeral of longtime friend and Democratic Party activist Sonia Sloan.

Sloan, who died Saturday at age 91, was immersed in Delaware politics, fundraising and volunteering for many Democrats — including all of Biden's campaigns. She served as Planned Parenthood of Delaware's board president and was a founding member of the Delaware chapter of the ACLU.

Sloan was honored at the First State Democratic Dinner in March.

The funeral will be held at 10:30 a.m. at Temple Beth Emeth Thursday.

Biden originally had two events scheduled in Iowa that day.

BACKGROUND:Sonia Sloan, prominent Delaware Democratic activist and friend to Biden, has died at 91

Sloan and her family were close with the Bidens. Photos of her and Joe Biden are scattered throughout her home, and she kept letters from him over the years. The two talked on the phone regularly.

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Biden last spoke to Sloan on the telephone Saturday morning, just before she died. Before he announced his candidacy, Sloan publicly urged Biden to run for president for a third time, saying she had "one more campaign left in me."

"I really mean this," Sloan said to The News Journal in March, "he is absolutely the best person to beat Trump and mend fences in this country and around the world."

Sloan leaves behind her husband, Gil, and their two sons, five granddaughters and five great-grandchildren.

Contact Meredith Newman at (302) 324-2386 or mnewman@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @MereNewman.