Former Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), who represented the Bronx and Westchester County in the House from 1988 to 2020 and served for years as the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, died Friday at age 79.

Engel, who was Jewish, rose to become the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee when Democrats retook the House in 2018, after serving as the ranking member from 2013 to 2018. He was a strong and vocal advocate for the U.S.-Israel relationship and the Jewish community, also acting as a co-chair of the House antisemitism task force.

But he was defeated in the 2020 election by far-left former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), with Engel’s support for Israel becoming a primary issue in the race — an early harbinger of subsequent trends in the Democratic Party.

In an exit interview with Jewish Insider in 2020, Engel said that he had committed himself throughout his career to being “the best friend that Israel ever had in Congress, and I think that I have kept up that bargain,” arguing that the U.S.-Israel relationship was stronger than ever. Engel’s stalwart support of Israel is now increasingly uncommon in a Democratic Party that’s becoming more critical of the Jewish state.

In 2020, he called conditioning aid to Israel “just about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Engel broke at times with his party on issues related to the Middle East and the Jewish community, including being one of the few House Democrats to vote in 2015 against the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran.

He also helped lead the first impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who served for years alongside Engel, told JI that Engel was “one of my greatest colleagues and dearest friends in Congress — a true progressive, a lifelong Democrat, and a tireless champion for the people of the Bronx, Rockland, and Westchester.” 

“As Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he brought integrity and experience to America’s role in the world, and he was an unwavering friend to Israel throughout his decades of service,” Nadler continued. “His legacy of service to the Bronx, Rockland, Westchester, and the nation will not be forgotten.”

“Serving alongside Eliot Engel was one of the great privileges of my time in Congress. Eliot combined deep moral clarity with an unwavering commitment to America’s alliances, especially the U.S.–Israel relationship,” former Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), who now leads the American Jewish Committee, told JI. “He led the Foreign Affairs Committee with principle, steadiness, and a genuine respect for colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I was proud to call him not only a colleague, but a friend.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said that Engel was “a champion for the people he was privileged to represent in the Bronx and Westchester County.”

“The grandson of Jews fleeing czarist Russia and a proud son of New York City, Eliot’s career in public service was inspired by his deep roots,” Jeffries said. “Eliot was an astute and prolific legislator who fought for human rights, civil rights and against antisemitism here at home and abroad.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Engel was a “true public servant who delivered for the people of his beloved Bronx and Westchester for 30 years — and a dear friend going back to when I first met him as a district leader in the Bronx.”

He praised Engel’s leadership of the Foreign Affairs Committee “with a rare blend of conviction, effectiveness, and kindness that has cemented him as one of the great diplomatic leaders of the 21st century.”

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) said in a statement that Engel was “a mensch and a truly patriotic American.”

“He was one of the first Members of Congress to take me under his wing when I was just a candidate in 2012. After my election, it was a privilege and honor to serve on the House Foreign Affairs Committee with Eliot as Ranking Member, working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to promote our country’s interests and advance our national security,” Schneider continued. “Throughout our service together, I got to know a real leader who never gave up on the United States and knew in his heart that Americans have so much more in common than what might set us apart.”

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), another longtime member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, praised Engel as a “fighter for democracy and human rights around the world,” highlighting their work together on the Caesar Civilian Protection Act sanctions on the Assad regime in Syria and their support for the Syrian people.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin said, “Eliot Engel proudly served New Yorkers in Congress. As a proud member of the Jewish community and the son of immigrants, he represented the best of … America’s promise.”

Rep. George Latimer (D-NY), who ousted Bowman in 2024, said that Engel, “devoted his lifetime to public service — as a teacher and as an elected official in Albany and Washington DC. His legacy consists of hard work on issues and kindness to all.”

AIPAC, in a statement, called Engel “a steadfast friend of the pro‑Israel community and an unabashed champion of the U.S.-Israel relationship.”

“Throughout his distinguished 32‑year career in Congress, including as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Engel worked tirelessly to strengthen and deepen the strategic alliance between the United States and Israel,” the group said, praising him as a “leading force against efforts to delegitimize our ally Israel.”

“He led critical efforts to support security assistance to Israel, worked to impose sanctions on the Iranian regime, opposed efforts to impose political cuts or conditions on aid, rejected the BDS campaign, and courageously opposed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal,” the group continued.

Local leaders who spoke to JI remembered Engel as an ever-present and deeply caring lawmaker who was always accessible both to the Jewish community and all of the communities he represented in Congress.

New York state Rep. Jeffrey Dinowitz said that Engel had been not only a professional colleague but a close personal friend for most of his life, with their families and children growing up together.

“We were the closest of friends for decades, literally decades. So it’s a horrible loss for the family and for the other people close to him,” Dinowitz said. “He does leave behind a great legacy — just the people that they helped. There’s no question that his office and sometimes he personally, they helped tens of thousands of people … he attended thousands of community events. He showed up everywhere.”

Dinowitz described Engel as a model of the Bronx, growing up from humble beginnings in public housing, going to college in the district and ultimately becoming the longest-serving member of Congress from the Bronx. “This is what the Bronx is all about. Somebody from modest beginnings can rise to one of the most powerful positions in the country,” Dinowitz said.

“He was the strongest supporter of Israel in the Congress, bar none,” Dinowitz added. “He was an effective advocate for Israel, and not only Israel, but Jewish causes in general. … He stood strong and he never wavered in his support for Israel.”

State Rep. Amy Paulin said that one of her earliest memories of Engel, when her district was redistricted into his in the 2010s, is one that stands out the most strongly. At the time, she said, the two did not know each other well, but he personally took her call on a Saturday evening to help a dying constituent obtain visas for family members to come to the United States to see him on his death bed.

“Not only did he take the call personally, he acted on it personally,” Paulin said. “What stood out for me, as I even recall the story, was just, you know, there wasn’t a hesitation on his part. … He was just such a terrific asset for us. He went to every event that he knew about, when he was in town, and he was such a kind, warm, smart, capable person, and his loss is going to mean something. … He cared. That’s just who he was.”

She said she later worked with Engel during the first Trump administration to obtain visas for young Palestinians to join a program with young Israelis to discuss peacebuilding, and he later helped facilitate a visit by Paulin to the Jewish state during a time of conflict.

“He cared deeply about Israel. He represented an area that also cares deeply about Israel,” Paulin added. “Being in Israel, you could see his love of the country. … He wanted to be there to see everything he could, to bring those messages back to the rest of the Jewish community so that everybody had a real clear picture of what Israel was up against and he did that because of his love of Israel and his wanting Israel to exist.”

Justin Brasch, the mayor of White Plains, N.Y., told JI that Engel was “so accessible and so down to earth,” a “tremendous public servant” and “so warm” to everyone in the community.

“What probably is [most] sad about him leaving the stage is that there aren’t enough people who are just kind and nice to everyone,” Brasch said. “There’s so much anger and betrayal in politics today, and he absolutely rejected that. He was kind and helpful and accessible to everyone. And I know for me that has always been something that has inspired me.”

He said that Engel was always willing and eager to take calls and to help constituents with any problem, in addition to being a strong supporter of Israel and fighter against antisemitism.

“He would always show up at events of concern to the Jewish community,” Brasch said. “And then we were quite proud that he was a congressman in our area.”

William Schrag, the former president of the Westchester Jewish Council, said that Engel was a “fierce [advocate]” for his constituents and “never lost sight of the people here.” Schrag said that the local Jewish community “loved him.” 

Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime New York Democratic strategist who once worked for Engel, emphasized that the former congressman took on the traditional Democratic establishment in the Bronx on behalf of “the people who felt powerless” and won, remaining his own man throughout his public career.

He said Engel also clearly enjoyed being a public official — “he enjoyed the byplay, he enjoyed the drama, he enjoyed the behind the scenes stuff” and he was known for arriving early to State of the Union addresses to secure a coveted center-aisle seat and photo with the president.

Ultimately, however, Engel was “a victim of the first wave of the hostile takeover of the Democratic Party [by the far-left] which has become much more pronounced since then,” Sheinkopf continued. “Eliot Engel was an American in every way. He believed in democracy, he believed in diversity. He was racially blind. He thought power ought to be shared, and he never, never walked away from those convictions, nor his Jewishness, for which he paid the price of being evicted from office.”

“He was the precursor of what we are now experiencing. … He was the first guy to see it way up close,” Sheinkopf continued.