Latest news with #CityCollegeofNewYork
CNBC
27-05-2025
- Politics
- CNBC
Charles Rangel, former longtime N.Y. congressman who represented Harlem, dies at 94
Charles Rangel, the Democratic former congressman from New York who championed his Harlem community on Capitol Hill for almost five decades, died Monday, his family said. He was 94. City College of New York spokesperson Michelle Stent confirmed Rangel's death in a statement, saying he died at a hospital in New York. Politicians and supporters remembered Rangel, known as Charlie, for his years in public service and deep roots in New York City. He was born in Harlem and was first elected to Congress in 1970, representing a congressional district that was first drawn up in the 1940s and allowed the neighborhood's majority Black voters to send one of their own to Washington. Rangel served for so long that he earned the nickname the "Lion of Lenox Avenue," referring to one of Harlem's primary corridors. "Charlie Rangel was a great man, a great friend, and someone who never stopped fighting for his constituents and the best of America," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday on X. "The list of his accomplishments could take pages, but he leaves the world a much better place than he found it." New York Mayor Eric Adams said on X that he was "sad to lose a dear friend and exemplary model of devotion and courage." The Rev. Al Sharpton called Rangel a "trailblazing legislator and an unshakable force in American politics." Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also honored Rangel as his "mentor and friend." "He had that Harlem fire in his heart and a joy in his soul that no battle could extinguish," Cuomo said in a statement, adding that "he never forgot where he came from." Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War, was a high school dropout but eventually went to college on the G.I. Bill, getting degrees from New York University and St. John's University Law School. In 1970, he defeated legendary Harlem politician Adam Clayton Powell to start his congressional career. During the next 40-plus years, he became a legend himself — a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, dean of the New York congressional delegation and, in 2007, the first Black chair of the influential Ways and Means Committee. "I have always been committed to fighting for the little guy," Rangel said in 2012. Two years earlier, he had stepped down from the Ways and Means Committee amid an ethics cloud. The House would later censure him in a 333-79 vote, citing nearly a dozen ethics violations that included breaching a gifts ban, improper use of influence and failure to disclose income. After the censure, Rangel rose before his colleagues in sorrow. "I know in my heart I am not going to be judged by this Congress," he said. "I'll be judged by my life in its entirety." Rangel remained in Congress and won the 2012 primary. His Harlem district overwhelmingly voted him in again as Barack Obama won a second presidential term. Despite the political stain later in his career, his time in Congress was exceedingly busy. According to the City College statement, Rangel sponsored 40 bills and resolutions that became law. His significant legislative accomplishments include championing the national Empowerment Zone program, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and the Affordable Care Act, which Obama signed into law in 2010. Rangel was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee when the Affordable Care Act was being heavily debated in Congress, and he was under pressure from the ethics investigations. In a 2009 interview with Time, he was defiant when he was asked about his legacy. "Well, as Rhett Butler once said in 'Gone With the Wind,' if I'm gone, quite frankly, I don't give a damn," he told the magazine. Rangel served in Congress until 2017, when he retired. He lamented to The New York Times in 2016, when his eventual successor, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, was poised to become the first Dominican American elected to Congress, that he feared that meant his Harlem district would no longer have a Black representative. "Can you tell the people in Boston that some day you won't have an Irish congressman?" Rangel said. Rangel was the last surviving member of the so-called Gang of Four — a group of Black political figures who wielded great power in city and state politics. The others were David Dinkins, New York's first Black mayor; Percy Sutton, who was Manhattan Borough president; and Basil Paterson, a deputy mayor and New York secretary of state. The Congressional Black Caucus said in a statement Monday that its 61 members were mourning the loss of Rangel. "His legacy is one of tireless advocacy, historic firsts, and dedication to justice and equality," the caucus said. "May he rest in power and everlasting peace." Rangel is preceded in death by his wife, Alma, a social worker whom he met in a Harlem ballroom in the 1950s; she died in 2024. The couple shared two children.
Toronto Star
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Former US Rep. Charles Rangel, who spent nearly 50 years representing New York, has died
NEW YORK (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, an outspoken, gravel-voiced Harlem Democrat who spent nearly five decades on Capitol Hill and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, died Monday at age 94. His family confirmed the death in a statement provided by City College of New York spokesperson Michelle Stent. He died at a hospital in New York, Stent said.
Los Angeles Times
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York dies at 94
NEW YORK — Former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, an outspoken, gravel-voiced Harlem Democrat who spent nearly five decades on Capitol Hill and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, died Monday at age 94. His family confirmed the death in a statement provided by City College of New York spokesperson Michelle Stent. He died at a hospital in New York, Stent said. A veteran of the Korean War, Rangel defeated legendary Harlem politician Adam Clayton Powell in 1970 to start his congressional career. During the next 40-plus years, he became a legend himself — a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, dean of the New York congressional delegation and in 2007, the first African American to chair the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He stepped down from that committee amid an ethics cloud, and the House censured him in 2010. But he continued to serve in Congress until his retirement in 2017. Rangel was the last surviving member of the Gang of Four — African American political figures who wielded great power in New York City and state politics. The others were David Dinkins, New York City's first Black mayor; Percy Sutton, who was Manhattan Borough president; and Basil Paterson, a deputy mayor and New York secretary of state. Few could forget Rangel after hearing him talk. His distinctive gravel-toned voice and wry sense of humor were a memorable mix. That voice — one of the most liberal in the House — was loudest in opposition to the Iraq War, which he branded a 'death tax' on poor people and minorities. In 2004, he tried to end the war by offering a bill to restart the military service draft. Republicans called his bluff and brought the bill to a vote. Even Rangel voted against it. A year later, Rangel's fight over the war became bitterly personal with then-Vice President Dick Cheney. Rangel said Cheney, who has a history of heart trouble, might be too sick to perform his job. 'I would like to believe he's sick rather than just mean and evil,' Rangel said. After several such verbal jabs, Cheney hit back, saying Rangel was 'losing it.' The charismatic Harlem lawmaker rarely backed down from a fight after he first entered the House in 1971 as a dragon slayer of sorts, having unseated Powell in the Democratic congressional primary in 1970. The flamboyant elder Powell, a city political icon first elected to the House in 1944, was ill and haunted by scandal at the time. Rangel became leader of the main tax-writing committee of the House, which has jurisdiction over programs including Social Security and Medicare, after the 2006 midterm elections when Democrats ended 12 years of Republican control of the chamber. But in 2010, a House ethics committee conducted a hearing on 13 counts of alleged financial and fundraising misconduct over issues surrounding financial disclosures and use of congressional resources. He was convicted of 11 ethics violations. The House found he had failed to pay taxes on a vacation villa, filed misleading financial disclosure forms and improperly solicited donations for a college center from corporations with business before his committee. The House followed the ethics committee's recommendation that he be censured, the most serious punishment short of expulsion. Rangel looked after his constituents, sponsoring empowerment zones with tax credits for businesses moving into economically depressed areas and developers of low income housing. 'I have always been committed to fighting for the little guy,' Rangel said in 2012. Rangel was born June 11, 1930. During the Korean War, he earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He would always say that he measured his days, even the troubled ones around the ethics scandal, against the time in 1950 when he survived being wounded as other soldiers didn't make it. It became the title of his autobiography: 'And I Haven't Had A Bad Day Since.' A high school dropout, he went to college on the G.I. Bill, getting degrees from New York University and St. John's University Law School. Hajela and Attanasio write for the Associated Press.
Mint
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Charles Rangel, former longtime US House lawmaker, dies at 94
Former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, an outspoken, gravel-voiced Harlem Democrat who spent nearly five decades on Capitol Hill and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, died Monday at age 94. His family confirmed the death in a statement provided by City College of New York spokesperson Michelle Stent. He died at a hospital in New York, Stent said. A veteran of the Korean War, he defeated legendary Harlem politician Adam Clayton Powell in 1970 to start his congressional career. During the next 40-plus years, he became a legend himself — a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, dean of the New York congressional delegation, and in 2007, the first African American to chair the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He stepped down from that committee amid an ethics cloud, and the House censured him in 2010. But he continued to serve in Congress until his retirement in 2017. Rangel was the last surviving member of the Gang of Four — African American political figures who wielded great power in New York City and state politics. The others were David Dinkins, New York City's first Black mayor; Percy Sutton, who was Manhattan Borough president; and Basil Paterson, a deputy mayor and New York secretary of state. Few could forget Rangel after hearing him talk. His distinctive gravel-toned voice and wry sense of humor were a memorable mix. That voice — one of the most liberal in the House — was loudest in opposition to the Iraq War, which he branded a 'death tax' on poor people and minorities. In 2004, he tried to end the war by offering a bill to restart the military service draft. Republicans called his bluff and brought the bill to a vote. Even Rangel voted against it. A year later, Rangel's fight over the war became bitterly personal with then-Vice President Dick Cheney. Rangel said Cheney, who has a history of heart trouble, might be too sick to perform his job. 'I would like to believe he's sick rather than just mean and evil,' Rangel said. After several such verbal jabs, Cheney hit back, saying Rangel was 'losing it.' The charismatic Harlem lawmaker rarely backed down from a fight after he first entered the House in 1971 as a dragon slayer of sorts, having unseated Powell in the Democratic congressional primary in 1970. The flamboyant elder Powell, a city political icon first elected to the House in 1944, was ill and haunted by scandal at the time. Rangel became leader of the main tax-writing committee of the House, which has jurisdiction over programs including Social Security and Medicare, after the 2006 midterm elections when Democrats ended 12 years of Republican control of the chamber. But in 2010, a House ethics committee conducted a hearing on 13 counts of alleged financial and fundraising misconduct over issues surrounding financial disclosures and use of congressional resources. He was convicted of 11 ethics violations. The House found he had failed to pay taxes on a vacation villa, filed misleading financial disclosure forms and improperly solicited donations for a college center from corporations with business before his committee. The House followed the ethics committee's recommendation that he be censured, the most serious punishment short of expulsion. Rangel looked after his constituents, sponsoring empowerment zones with tax credits for businesses moving into economically depressed areas and developers of low income housing. 'I have always been committed to fighting for the little guy,' Rangel said in 2012. Rangel was born June 11, 1930. During the Korean War, he earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He would always say that he measured his days, even the troubled ones around the ethics scandal, against the time in 1950 when he survived being wounded as other soldiers didn't make it. It became the title of his autobiography: 'And I Haven't Had A Bad Day Since.' A high school dropout, he went to college on the G.I. Bill, getting degrees from New York University and St. John's University Law School.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Rep. Charlie Rangel dies at 94
Charles B. Rangel, the former New York lawmaker whose trailblazing career saw the high school dropout represent Harlem for four decades in Congress, died on Monday. He was 94. Rangel's death was announced by the City College of New York, where after retiring from Congress in 2017 he served as Statesman-in-Residence and launched the Charles B. Rangel Infrastructure Workforce Initiative to boost infrastructure jobs in areas of Manhattan and the Bronx that he called home. First elected to Congress in 1970, Rangel would eventually serve 23 terms in the body, where he co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus and became the first Black chairman of the influential Ways and Means Committee.
