His family said Charles Rangel, a former Democratic Congress member from New York who defended the Harlem community in Capitol Hill nearly five decades ago, died on Monday.
It was 94.
City College in New York Michelle Stenet He confirmed the death of Rangel in a statementHe said he died in a hospital in New York.
Politicians and supporters, Rangel, known as Charlie, remember his years in public service and deep roots in New York City. He was born in Harlem and was elected for the first time in Congress in 1970, and it represents an area in Congress that was first placed in the 1940s and allowed the majority of black voters in the neighborhood to send one of them to Washington.
Rangel has served for a long time that he won the title “”Lion of Linux Street“In reference to one of the main corridors of Harlam.
“Charlie Rangel was a great man, a great friend, and a person never stopped fighting for his voters and the best in America,” The two said on x. “His achievement list can take pages, but it leaves the world a much better place than he found.”
New York mayor Eric Adams He said on x It was “sad to lose a dear friend and an ideal model for dedication and courage.” Green Castle Call A
Former New York Governor Andrew Como Rangel also honored him as his “teacher and friend.”
“Harlem was hit in his heart and a joy in his spirit that could not extinguish any battle,” Komo said in a statement, adding that “he never forgot where he came from.”
Rangel, a veterans of the Korean war, was a secondary school contestant, but he finally went to the college in the draft law of the General Assembly, where he obtained certificates from New York University and the Faculty of Law at St. John University.
In 1970, legendary politician Harlem Adam Cleiton Powell defeated his career in Congress. During the next forty years, he became a legend himself-a founding member of the Black Gathering in Congress, the Dean of the Congress delegation in New York, and in 2007, the first black president of the influential committee and means.
“I have always been committed to fighting for the little man,” said Rangel in 2012.
Two years ago, he had resigned from the Roads and Means Committee in an ethical cloud. The House of Representatives later blamed it in a 333-79 vote, referring to nearly dozens of moral violations that included the violation of the ban on gifts, and the improper use of influence and failure to detect income.
After blame, Rangel rose in front of his colleagues in sadness.
“I know in my heart that I will not be judged by this Congress,” He said. “I will judge my entire life.”
Rangel remained in Congress and won the 2012 preliminary elections. Harlem’s neighborhood voted with an overwhelming majority, as Barack Obama won a second presidential period.
Despite the political spot later in his career, his time in Congress was very busy.
According to a statement of the city’s college, Rangel sponsored 40 draft laws and decisions that have become a law. Its important legislative achievements include defending the national empowerment area program, low -income housing credit and affordable prices, which Obama signed in law in 2010.
Rangel was the head of the Roads and Means Committee when he was discussing the law of welfare at reasonable prices in Congress, and he was under pressure from ethics.
In 2009 An interview over timeHe was challenging when he was asked about his legacy.
He said to the magazine, “Well, as Ret Bater once said in” Gold with the Wind “, if I go, completely frankly, I do not give a curse,” he said to the magazine.
Rangel served in Congress until 2017, when he retired. It is sorry for New York Times in 2016When he was eventually his successor, MP Adriano Espaylat, was about to become the first Dominican American elected America, who was afraid that Harlem would mean a black actor Harlem.
“Can you tell people in Boston that one day you will never have a member of the Irish Congress?” Rangel said.
Rangel was the last alive member of the so-called four-member gang-a group of black political figures who were practicing the great power in the city and the state. The others were David Denkins, the first black mayor in New York; Percy Soton, who was president of Manhattan Boro; Passel Patterson, Deputy Mayor and Minister of Foreign Affairs in New York.
The Black Assembly in Congress said in a statement on Monday that its 61 -year -old members were saddened by the loss of Rangel.
The assembly said: “Its legacy is one of the indisputable calls, historical first, and dedication to justice and equality.” “It may rest in power and eternal peace.”
Rangel precedes his death, his wife, Alma, and he is a social worker He met in Harlam Hall In the fifties; Died In 2024. The couple participated in two children.
