Melvin L. Stukes, who served on the Baltimore City Council and in the Maryland House of Delegates, died Sept. 21 at his Pikesville home. He was 76.

“He died suddenly and unexpectedly,” said his daughter, Tauraine L. Stukes, of Cherry Hill.

“Constituent and public service were in Melvin’s DNA,” said former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, a City Hall colleague and friend. “He really enjoyed helping people.”

Melvin LaVern Stukes, the son of Floyd M. Stukes, a Navy cook, and Katie Felder Stukes, a postal worker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Davis Station, South Carolina.

After graduating in 1965 from the segregated Scott’s Branch High School in Summerton, South Carolina — where he played football, baseball and basketball — he joined the Air Force, where he served until being honorably discharged in 1969.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1975 in business administration from what was then Morgan State College, a member of the last class before it gained university status.

From 1975 to 1998, he worked in the state’s Revenue Administration Division before going to work for the Maryland Transportation Authority, where he was customer services liaison to the head of the agency until his retirement in 2019.

A neighborhood activist, Mr. Stukes was a founding member in 1979 of the Cherry Hill Improvement Association and served as its president three years later.

Mr. Stukes also served on the advisory board of the South Baltimore Learning Center and the Baltimore Educational and Cultural Institute Inc., and had been vice president of the Leon Day Foundation.

His foray into Democratic politics began in 1991 when he successfully ran for the Baltimore City Council and became the first Black representative from South Baltimore’s 6th District, which extended from Curtis Bay to Edmondson Village.

In 2007, Mr. Stukes was elected to represent the 44th District in the House of Delegates and served until 2015.

During his tenure in Annapolis, Mr. Stukes cited as some of his strongest pieces of legislation “measures that honor Negro League baseball players and the Juneteenth holiday, which marks the end of slavery in America,” according to a 2014 article in The Baltimore Sun.

However, Mr. Stukes voted “against the legalization of same-sex marriage despite having initially supported a bill in favor.”

“That was probably the most divisive issue that happened in the eight years I’ve been down there,” Mr. Stukes explained to The Sun. “I’m glad it passed so we could move on. I’m one of three from Baltimore who didn’t vote for it. I stand on principle for strong spiritual grounds. I’m too damn old to change my mind now.”

“Melvin was a big, jovial, and outgoing guy, and in terms of being a politician, he was a happy political warrior,” Mr. Schmoke said. “His favorite slogan, which he said every day, was ‘Working together works,’ and he was most happy doing constituent service.”

One of Mr. Stukes’ hobbies was African American history, and he was a member of the Buffalo Soldiers.

He was a member of the Prince Hall Masons Enterprise Lodge No. 3 and the Arch Social Club.

He was an avid sports fan and liked dining on Southern cuisine, family members said.

He was a member of Beechfield United Methodist Church.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Oct. 8 at Union Bethel A.M.E. Church, 8615 Church Lane, Randallstown.

In addition to his wife of two years, Catherine DeFord, a retired city public schools principal, and his daughter, Mr. Stukes is survived by another daughter, Marian L. Stukes, of Parkville; a stepson, Kevin DeFord, of Baltimore; a stepdaughter, Sheila Cofield, of New York City; three sisters, Sandra Chipungu and Joan Stukes-Maurice, both of Randallstown, and Mercedes Eugenia, of Virginia; three stepgrandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.