Virginia Congressman Donald McEachin died Monday at age 61, weeks after winning a fourth term representing all of Richmond, parts of Henrico and Chesterfield counties and the Tri-Cities area in the 4th Congressional District.
McEachin’s death was sudden, but his illness was not. It had been eight years since he had suffered the after-effects of successful treatment for colorectal cancer.
“We are all devastated by the death of our boss and friend, Congressman Donald McEachin,” Tara Rountree, the Democratic congressman’s chief of staff, said in a statement Monday night.
“Courageously, for years, we have watched him battle and triumph over the side effects of his colorectal cancer since 2013,” Rountree said. “Tonight, he lost that battle and the people of Virginia’s 4th Congressional District lost a hero who always, always fought for them and put them first.”
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McEachin, who was elected twice to the House of Delegates and served nine years in the Senate, had just defeated Republican Leon Benjamin on Nov. 8 for a second term. His fourth term was scheduled to begin in January.
U.S. Rep. A. Donald McEachin, D-4th, during an interview with reporters and editors at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Richmond on June 14, 2019.
BOB BROWN
“Until a new representative is elected, our office will remain open and continue to serve our constituents,” Rountree said.
His wife, Colette, is the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Richmond. McEachin, a lawyer who lived in South Richmond, is also survived by three daughters.
“The family is asking for privacy at this time,” Rountree said. “Arrangements will be announced over the next few days.”
McEachin, who was 6ft 5in tall, revealed in 2018 that he had developed a fistula, an abnormal connection between his bladder and colon, as a result of cancer surgery.
He lost 60 pounds and underwent several surgeries to correct the condition, which he treated as temporary and not an obstacle to his work in the House of Representatives.
McEachin was first elected to Congress in 2016 after a court ordered the redistricting of the 4th District as part of his response to the alleged racial manipulation of the 3rd District by General Assembly Republicans.
The Fourth District now includes all or part of 15 cities and counties, stretching from Richmond to Brunswick, Greensville and Southampton counties. He gets about three-quarters of his votes from Richmond and east Henrico and east Chesterfield.
A. Donald McEachin taken on 09/11/1991 by Bob Brown
BOB BROWN
Rep. Bobby Scott, D-3rd, praised McEachin’s legacy as “a pioneer in Virginia politics” as the first African American to run as a major party candidate for attorney general in 2001, ultimately losing before Republican Jerry Kilgore, and as the third to be elected to Congress by the state.
(John Mercer Langston, elected in 1888 to represent the 4th District, was Virginia’s first African-American in Congress. Scott became the second 105 years later.)
“Donald was a thoughtful and principled legislator and respected by people on both sides of the aisle,” Scott said.
Before serving in Congress, McEachin had a long career as a personal injury attorney and co-owner of the law firm McEachin & Gee in Henrico County, but he also has a master of divinity degree from Virginia Union University. He did not lead a church, but he helped the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Beaverdam.
“There is ministry in the church and there is ministry outside the church,” he said in 2018.
US Representative A. Donald McEachin
• Born Aston Donald McEachin on October 10, 1961 in Nuremberg, Germany. His father was an army veteran and his mother a school teacher.
• Graduated from St. Christopher’s School in Richmond in 1979. He also graduated from American University with a degree in political science and from the University of Virginia School of Law. He also received a Master of Divinity from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University.
• Founded McEachin and Gee Law Firm in 1990.
• Served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1996 to 2002 and from 2006 to 2008 and in the state Senate from 2008 to 2016.
• Elected to the US House on November 8, 2016.
• Raised three children with wife and Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin.
McEachin’s priorities in Congress included protecting the Affordable Care Act and women’s reproductive rights, fighting climate change, and promoting environmental justice and preserving black cemeteries.
He introduced the African American Cemeteries Preservation Act, a measure that would provide $3 million annually to preserve and restore black cemeteries.
McEachin personally enjoyed leading a successful effort to rename Fort Lee after Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg, the Army’s highest-ranking minority general when he retired in 1981, and Lt. Col. Charity Adams. Gregg was a lifelong friend of the congressman’s father, a US Army veteran.
“It’s a great day in Virginia,” the congressman exclaimed after a congressional nomenclature committee announced in May his picks to replace the former Confederate general’s name at the sprawling base outside Petersburg in his district .
The 2001 Democratic ticket (standing, left to right) A. Donald McEachin, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine made their first appearance together in the South Richmond…