Former Baltimore City Councilman Warren M. Branch died of heart failure Aug. 18 at LifeBridge Health Sinai Hospital. He was 63 and lived near the city’s Chinquapin Park neighborhood.

Nicholas C. D’Adamo Jr., a former city council member who represented District 2 from 1987 to 2011, served alongside Mr. Branch.

“Over the years, I served with 84 people in the City Council, and Warren is one of the top five,” Mr. D’Adamo said.

“He was very likable and a man of his word. He was very low-key, never took credit for anything, and always did the right thing,” he said.

Carl Stokes, another City Council colleague who represented Districts 2 and 12, had been a longtime friend before both men were elected to the council.

“Warren was one of the few politicians you could always trust. He had my back, and I had his,” Mr. Stokes said. “When he gave you his word, you could sleep on it, and if he changed his mind on a position, he’d call and tell you why.”

Warren Maurice Branch, son of Andrew Lee Branch, a truck driver, and Rose Lene Bishop, a dietitian, was born in Baltimore and raised in Bel-Air Edison. He was also the stepson of Roland Bishop.

After graduating from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in 1979, he enlisted in the Army. Once discharged, he attended Baltimore City Community College where he studied business administration.

From 1983 to 1993, he was an emergency medical technician for American Ambulance System, while also working as a paralegal for the National Academy for Paralegal Studies Inc.

In 2006, he obtained his real estate license.

Mr. Branch then became a Baltimore Public Works inspector for the city’s Eastern District and in 1992 became a tenant advocate for the Public Justice Center.

In the mid-1990s, he served as president of the Madison East End Improvement Association and was a member of the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee from 2006 to 2010.

A protege of Clarence H. Du Burns, the city’s first African American mayor who served for one year in 1987, Mr. Branch was elected in 2007 to the City Council where he represented District 13 in East Baltimore.

His various committee assignments included education, executive appointments and budget and appropriations. He was chair of the Public Safety Committee from 2011 to 2016.

“If Warren told you he was going to vote for you, he did,” recalled Mr D’Adamo. “He always voted for the people of his district and he got things done. He was just a wonderful guy with a great laugh.”

In 2016, Mr. Branch lost his reelection bid to Shannon Sneed.

In 2022, he was elected to the Baltimore City Democratic Committee and was a member of the board of Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition Inc.

Even as his health failed, Mr. Branch remained “optimistic,” Mr. Stokes said.

“If I mentioned I was going to do something, Warren would say, ‘Carl, I’m right with you,’ before he even knew what it was,” Mr. Stokes said, with a laugh.

Mr. Branch was married in 2015 to Jeanette White, a Baltimore City Circuit Court clerk, who survives.

In addition to politics, his wife said, Mr. Branch enjoyed classic Hollywood films.

Services were held Aug. 28 at Chatman-Harris Funeral Home East in Baltimore.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his father, Andrew Lee Branch of Cedonia; his stepfather, Roland Bishop of Bel Air-Edison; two sons, Warren Branche Jr. and Staphon Julius Branch, both of Baltimore; two daughters, Jada Xavier Virginia Branch and Angel Rose Branch, both of Baltimore; three brothers, Talmadge Branch, former member of the House of Delegates from District 45, and Avery Branch, both of Baltimore, and Gregory Branch of Bel Air; two sisters, Shuron Branch and Tangie Smith, both of Baltimore; two grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. An earlier marriage ended in divorce.