Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida has died, his chief of staff Lale M. Morrison told CNN on Tuesday. He was 84.
Hastings death was first reported Tuesday by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
In January 2019, he announced that he was being treated for pancreatic cancer and planned to remain in Congress during the treatment, calling it “a battle worth fighting.” That same month he became the longest-serving member of Florida’s congressional delegation.
Hastings first began serving in the US House of Representatives in 1993 and is a member of the House Rules Committee.
Hastings was appointed to the Florida federal bench by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and became the state’s first African American federal judge.
Hastings was impeached by the House and removed from office as a federal judge by the Senate in 1989. The House adopted a number of articles of impeachment against Hastings that included charges of conspiracy and perjury — of which the Senate voted by the necessary two-thirds vote to convict him on eight articles.
According to the biography on his congressional website, Hastings had served as the dean and co-chairman of the Florida congressional delegation. He was born in Altamonte Springs, Florida and received a law degree from Florida A&M University in the city of Tallahassee.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
