Former New York congressman Charlie Rangel, Korean War Purple Heart recipient, dies at 94

One of the most influential members in the history of Congress, who served 46 years and was the first African American member and chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has died at 94, seven months after his wife of 60 years Alma passed at the same age.

Tributes poured in Memorial Day for New York Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel, known as "The Lion of Lenox Avenue" and the last surviving member of the politically dominant "Gang of Four" Harlem politicians, who left Congress in 2017 but stayed active with City College of New York, whose Center for Public Service bears his name, and launched the Charles B. Rangel Infrastructure Workforce Initiative to create jobs, WABC reported.

He was a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient for his service in the Korean War.

City College noted Rangel was deemed "the most effective lawmaker in Congress, leading all of his colleagues in passing legislation," and was the primary sponsor of what became Obamacare. The so-called Rangel Amendment in 1987 helped spur the end of apartheid in South Africa, denying foreign tax credits to U.S. companies that invested in the country during that time period.

The Rev. Al Sharpton praised him as a "true activist" who had been "arrested together and painted crack houses together" with Sharpton. 

One stain on his legacy was his censure but not expulsion by the Democrat-controlled House in 2010 after a House Ethics Committee panel found him guilty of 11 charges of ethics violations, including "failing to report rental income, improper use of a rent-stabilized apartment and soliciting charitable donations from people with business before Congress," though Republicans didn't vote to oust him when they took the chamber the next year. 

His congressional biography notes "Rangel’s chairmanship was ultimately undone" by that string of ethics violations.

The disparate treatment of lawmakers by party for ethics breaches was noted when Republicans voted to oust New York GOP Rep. George Santos without a conviction in 2023, a first on Capitol Hill.