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What Was Elijah Cummings’ Net Worth?
Elijah Cummings was an American politician, civil rights advocate, and author who had a net worth of $1.3 million at the time of his death in October 2019.
According to his last personal asset disclosure, Elijah Cummings’ peak net worth ranged between $1.1 million and $1.5 million, with roughly $750,000 of his net worth coming from his Baltimore home. Elijah served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from the 39th district from January 1983 to January 1996, and he became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland’s 7th district in April 1996. In January 2019, Cummings was elected Chair of the House Oversight Committee. He also served on the Committee of Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation and Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, the Committee of Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Domestic Policy and Subcommittee of Federal Workforce, Post Office, and District of Columbia, and the Select Committee on Benghazi. Sadly, Elijah died at the age of 68 on October 17, 2019. His memoir, “We’re Better Than This: My Fight for the Future of Our Democracy” (written with James Dale), was posthumously published in 2020, and it won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author.
Salary
As a long-serving senior Congressman, Elijah’s annual salary was $174,000.
Early Life
Elijah Cummings was born Elijah Eugene Cummings on January 18, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland. Elijah’s parents, Ruth Elma and Robert, were sharecroppers, and he grew up with six siblings. At the age of 11, Cummings worked with some of his friends to integrate a segregated South Baltimore swimming pool. Elijah attended the college preparatory high school Baltimore City College, graduating with honors in 1969. He then enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and there, he was sophomore class president and treasurer of the student government and later served as student government president. Cummings was also a member of the academic honor society the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science in 1973, followed by a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1976. Later that year Elijah was admitted to the Maryland state bar. He spent nearly 20 years practicing law before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996.
Career
Cummings began serving in the Maryland House of Delegates in January 1983, and he stayed there for 14 years. He credited his predecessor, Lena King Lee, who campaigned for him, with launching his career in politics. During his time in the Maryland House of Delegates, Elijah was Chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland in the Maryland General Assembly, and he was the first Black lawmaker to be named Speaker Pro Tempore in the history of Maryland. He also served on the University of Maryland Law School Board of Advisors, the SEED Schools of Maryland Board of Directors, and the United States Naval Academy Board of Visitors. He established the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel to “invest in promising teens from Maryland’s 7th congressional district and prepare them to serve as open-minded leaders with the skills, community ties, and global exposure critical to success in a diverse society.” Elijah also wrote a column for the newspaper the “Baltimore Afro-American,” and he was a member of the Prince Hall Freemasonry.
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Cummings was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, and he was reelected 11 times before his death in 2019. He was a member of the Task Force on Health Care Reform, Congressional Arts Caucus, and Congressional Progressive Caucus, and he co-founded and chaired the Congressional Caucus on Drug Policy. He was Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus as well. Elijah chaired the Oversight Committee, presiding over testimony by Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former attorney, and leading the impeachment inquiry against Trump. He introduced the bipartisan bill the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014 (which he co-sponsored with Republican congressman Darrell Issa) as well as the All Circuit Review Extension Act. Cummings was a supporter of the Smart Savings Act, which he said would “enable workers to take full advantage of a diversified fund designed to yield higher returns.” When he spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Elijah stated, “Our party does not just believe, but understands, that Black Lives Matter. But we also recognize that our community and our law enforcement work best when they work together.” He added, “Our party knows that diversity is not our problem. It is our promise. We as Democrats, we value every life: black, white, Asian. Every life.”
Personal Life
Elijah married Maya Rockeymoore on June 20, 2008, and they remained together until Cummings’ death in October 2019. Maya was elected chair of the Maryland Democratic Party in 2018, and after Elijah’s death, she ran for his seat in the 7th congressional district special election but lost to Kweisi Mfume in the primary. Cummings was previously married to Joyce Matthews, and they welcomed daughter Jennifer together. He also had two children from other relationships. In 2011, Elijah’s nephew Christopher Cummings, a student at Virginia’s Old Dominion University, was murdered at his off-campus home. A decade after Christopher’s murder, Norfolk police arrested four people in connection with the crime. In May 2017, Elijah had surgery to repair his aortic valve and was unable to return to Capitol Hill for two months. He developed an infection related to the surgery in July 2017, and he later was hospitalized for an infection in his knee. In 1994, Cummings was diagnosed with thymic carcinoma, a rare form of cancer, and in November 2019, it was revealed that he had lived with it for more than two decades.
Death
On October 17, 2019, Cummings died at the age of 68 from “complications concerning longstanding health challenges.” On October 24th, Elijah became the first Black lawmaker to lie in state at National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol, and thousands of people entered the Capitol to pay their respects after his state funeral ended. His official funeral took place on October 25th at Baltimore’s New Psalmist Baptist Church, and it was attended by political figures such as Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, John Lewis, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Elizabeth Warren. Republican congressman Mark Meadows delivered the eulogy, and he said of Elijah, “He’s called a number of things, father, husband, friend, chairman. For me, I was privileged enough to be able to call him a dear friend. Some have classified it as an unexpected friendship, but for those of us that know Elijah, it’s not unexpected or surprising.” He added, “Perhaps this place and this country would be better served with a few more unexpected friendships. I know I have been blessed by one.”
Honors
Cummings received honorary doctoral degrees from more than a dozen colleges and universities, including a Doctor of Laws from Howard University (2003), a Doctor of Humane Letters from Johns Hopkins University (2015), and a Doctor of Public Service from University of Maryland, College Park (2017).
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