Donald M. Payne

Donald Milford Payne was born on the sixteenth of July 1934 in Newark, New Jersey, the son of William Evander Payne, a dock worker and former chauffeur, and Norma Garrett Payne. Raised in a working-class Black family, he graduated from Barringer High School in 1952 and went on to study at Seton Hall University, laying the foundation for a life devoted to service and to the uplift of his community.

Before entering politics, Payne taught in the Newark public schools and rose through the ranks of the YMCA, becoming in 1970 the first African American to serve as national president of the organization in the United States. He carried that spirit of leadership into elected office, serving on the Newark Municipal Council before winning election to the United States House of Representatives in November 1988 — becoming the first African American ever to represent New Jersey in the United States Congress.

Representing New Jersey's Tenth District from 1989 until his death, Payne became a leading voice on Africa and global health. As chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health from 2007 to 2010, he championed humanitarian relief and human rights, pressing for engagement in Sudan, Rwanda, Liberia, and beyond, and traveling often to the continent whose people he tirelessly defended.

A former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, he was re-elected repeatedly with overwhelming support and died in office on the sixth of March 2012, of colon cancer. His son later succeeded him in the seat he had honored. We remember Donald Milford Payne as a steadfast servant of his city, his nation, and a wider world he never ceased to champion.