Edward William Brooke III, the first black senator in the United States to be elected into office, died on Saturday, Jan. 3.
Brooke's former chief counsel Ralph Neas said that the former Massachusetts senator died of natural causes and was surrounded by his family when he passed away in his home at Coral Gables, Fla. He was 95 years old.
The Massachusetts Republican made history when he triumphed over former Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody in a 1966 election. His landslide victory made him the first Black American to become senator by virtue of popular election, serving in the senate for two terms from 1967 to 1979.
Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce, who also served as U.S. senators in the 19th century, were appointed to office and not elected by voters.
Brooke is the only Black senator to have been reelected into office. He is also one of only nine Black Americans to have served the senate, with only two Black Americans elected to the senate after his term: Carol Moseley Braun, in 1992 and Barack Obama in 2004.
Brooke attempted to run again for a third term in 1978 but he lost his bid to Representative Paul Tsongas, a Democrat. His divorce with his first wife, Remigia Ferrari-Scacco, is attributed as a cause of the collapse of his political career.
During the two terms he was senator, Brooke made housing affordable and prioritized mass transit. He also served in the Senate Banking Committee. In 1969, the Brooke amendment to the federal housing act was enacted, limiting to 25 percent the amount of income that public housing tenants have to pay for rent. Brooke was also the first Republican senator who publicly called for the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have sent their sympathies to the family and loved ones of the former senator. In a statement, the president acknowledged the contributions Brooke made for the nation.
"Ed Brooke stood at the forefront of the battle for civil rights and economic fairness," the president said. "During his time in elected office, he sought to build consensus and understanding across partisan lines, always working towards practical solutions to our nation's challenges."
In 2002, Brooke was diagnosed with breast cancer, a disease that commonly affects women. A year after, he went public and advocated for insurance companies to provide coverage for mammograms for men.
