Rep. Donald Payne, a New Jersey Democrat first elected to Congress in 1988, has died after a battle with colon cancer. He was 77, National Journal reported.

He passed away on Tuesday, according to news reports confirmed by a congressional aide.

Payne has represented northeastern New Jersey with few significant challengers for more than two decades. In his last race, he won 85 percent of the vote in the general election after going unopposed in the primary – and that was his closest contest since 2002.

He was a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. More recently, he led the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the group’s philanthropic wing.

Payne was long active in foreign affairs and was the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights. In 2003, President George W. Bush named Payne one of two congressional delegates to the United Nations.

Payne was a cosponsor of H.Res.106, Armenian Genocide Res. affirming U.S. record.

“In his time, Adolf Hitler, taking advantage of the fact Armenian Genocide was forgotten, assaulted the Europe,” the Congressman said.

As he stated in 2010 at US House Foreign Affairs hearing, Armenian Genocide was recognized by 42 US states and 11 states of NATO. “It will be right for US to recognize Armenian Genocide,” he emphasized.