Former N.Y. legislator Rangel has died 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.

He defeated legendary Harlem politician Adam Clayton Powell in 1970 to start his congressional career. He became 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 conti