Funeral services set for N.J. Congressman Donald Payne

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to speak Wednesday at the funeral for one of New Jersey’s trailblazing politicians.

Rep. Donald Payne’s service will be held at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark. The 77-year-old lawmaker died last week from colon cancer.
The service comes a day after hundreds of people accompanied Payne’s flag-dropped casket from a nearby funeral home to the church.

Payne served 12 terms and became New Jersey’s first black congressional member when he was elected in 1988. He announced last month that he had been undergoing treatment in Washington, and was flown to New Jersey in his final days.

Payne was a member of House committees on education and foreign affairs and served as chairman of the House subcommittee on Africa.