Politics
Former House Democrat Leader Passes Away At 94
Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel, who served in Congress for more than four decades, passed away on Sunday at the age of 94.
The New York Democrat served on Capitol Hill from 1971 through 2017, a tenure that included multiple redistricting procedures. At the time of his retirement in 2017, Rangel was the second longest-tenured member in the House.
Prior to entering politics in the late 1960’s, Rangel served in the U.S. Army from 1948 through 1952. He was wounded at the Battle of Kunu-ri in 1950, for which he earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with valor.
His army unit was also awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. “When I was exposed to a different life, even if that life was just the Army, I knew damn well I couldn’t get back to the same life I had left,” Rangel told the New York Post of his military service shortly after he was elected to Congress in 1971.
Photo: Elbert Garcia
Rangel was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, who personally proposed its name change from the Democratic Select Committee in 1971. From 2007 through 2010, he served as the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, becoming the first African American to hold the prestigious post.
He would later step down from that position after he became the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations he accepted trips to the Caribbean that were paid for by corporate interests. The 23-term congressman was ultimately ordered to repay the money.
In 2010, Rangel was censured by the House after the body’s ethics committee found him guilty of 11 counts of violating House rules, including failing to pay taxes on a vacation home in the Dominican Republic and improperly using his office to raise money for an educational center bearing his name.
While speaking with reporters at a Memorial Day event, New York City Mayor Eric Adams described Rangel as a “friend” and icon in Empire State politics.
“Charlie Rangel spent a lifetime serving his country — first as a decorated veteran of the Korean War, then as an assemblyman, and a congressman. For nearly 50 years, he represented his community as one of our city’s greatest elected leaders,” Adams wrote in an X post.
“I am so sad to lose a dear friend and exemplary model of devotion and courage. My prayers are with his family, Harlem, and all who knew him.”
