Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings is being remembered as a staunch civil rights advocate whose influence stretched far beyond his Maryland district.

Bruce Morgan, president of the New Brunswick area NAACP, remembers being so awestruck when he once met Rep. Cummings that he accidentally called him by the name of another civil rights icon.

"When I first met him, I called him Mr. [Rep John] Lewis. And he said, ‘No, no, no, I'm the other brother," said Morgan.

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Rep. Cummings was elected to Congress in 1996. His determination in the fight for civil rights and voting rights left an indelible impression across the country.

"It was gut punching, but…it reminds us that tomorrow is not promised to anyone and that it's never too late or too early to begin advocating for civil rights," said Quanae Palmer-Chambliss, Rahway Area NAACP.

Rep. Cummings was especially concerned about violence in his home city of Baltimore and the toll it was taking on young people in that community, as he expressed in a tearful interview.

“I had my turn. I want them to have their turn. Simple as that,” said Cummings.