Democratic Virginia Rep. Donald McEachin Dies from Cancer at 61

U.S. Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-VA) died on Monday following a years-long battle with colorectal cancer. He was 61.

“Valiantly, for years now, we have watched him fight and triumph over the secondary effects of his colorectal cancer from 2013. Tonight, he lost that battle,” McEachin’s chief of staff, Tara Rountree, said in a statement late Monday.

McEachin, who was just reelected to a fourth term earlier this month, represented Virginia’s 4th Congressional District, which includes part of Richmond and the southern part of the North Carolina border.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lauded her late colleague as “a tireless champion for Virginia families and a force for economic opportunity and environmental justice,” CBN News reports.

“Up until the very end, Don was a fighter. Even though he battled cancer and faced other trials in recent years, he never lost his focus on social and environmental justice. Tonight, Virginia has lost a great leader, and I have lost a great friend,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said in a statement.

Democratic Virginia Rep. Gerry Connelly remembered McEachin as an “environmentalist, civil rights advocate, faithful public servant, and a man of consequence. There was no better ally to have.”

Aston Donald McEachin was born on Oct. 10, 1961, in Nuremberg, Germany. His father was a U.S. Army veteran, and his mother was a schoolteacher.

He attended St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, where he graduated in 1979. McEachin later earned a bachelor’s degree from American University in 1982 and a law degree at the University of Virginia in 1986. The late Virginia Democrat also holds a Masters of Divinity degree from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, which he received in 2008.

McEachin leaves behind his wife, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin, and their three children, Mac, Briana and Alexandra.

Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla/Staff

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer. He is also the co-hosts of the For Your Soul podcast, which seeks to equip the church with biblical truth and sound doctrine. Visit his blog Blessed Are The Forgiven.

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