By David Cruz
The dean of the New Jersey Congressional delegation and the state’s first African American congressional representative, Donald Payne lost his months-long battle with cancer, surrounded by his family. Payne leaves behind a record of progressive activism in Congress and a legacy of respect and generosity in his hometown of Newark.
Payne was educated at Barringer High School and Seton Hall University. His career began as a high school teacher, and as an executive with Prudential Financial. He served on the Essex County Freeholder Board and then the Newark City Council before he won a seat in Congress in 1988.
Over his 40 years in public life, he championed the cause of peace and human rights from Newark and Essex County to Northern Ireland, Darfur and Liberia. But this morning, his brother and political partner, former Assemblyman Bill Payne remembered the Congressman’s humility.
“I have to say he’s never, ever asked for any kind of accolades,” said Payne, a deputy chief of staff for the Essex County Executive. “He never, ever was in the spotlight. He was just such an incredibly warm and dedicated person who did what he believed. He did what he did because he believed it was the right thing to do.”
A widower since the early 60s, Payne raised his daughter Wanda and son Donald Junior, as a single dad.
“In the mid 60s, people didn’t keep their children, especially if you were a young man,” said Donald Payne, Jr., who serves as the Newark City Council president. “You went with a grandmother, an aunt, a relative, a neighbor, but my father said, ‘no, these are my children and they’ll stay with me,’ and he had a lot of help over the years. He was a constant in our lives and when I became a father, it’s something I respected.”
Newark Mayor Cory Booker ordered flags in the city flown at half staff for the man he called an icon and a hero.
“He’s a guy who walked into a room and he was immediately someone that people respected; he could change the temperature and the tone,” said Booker. “He had a gravitas about him that only the humblest of leaders do … He was a true gentleman.”
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