Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and a key figure in the impeachment inquiry of President Trump, died Thursday of complications from an ongoing health issue, his office announced. He was 68.

“At approximately 2:45 a.m. on Thursday October 17, 2019, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (MD-07) passed away at John Hopkins Hospital due to complications concerning longstanding health challenges,” his office said in a statement.

Cummings, who had been absent from Capitol Hill while under medical treatment, had suffered from health issues in recent years. His office didn’t detail what procedure he underwent.

In 2017, he underwent an aortic valve replacement, a procedure used to correct narrowing of the aortic valve in the heart that his aides said was minimally invasive in Cummings’ case, according to the Baltimore Sun.

The operation led to an infection that kept him in the hospital longer than expected. Later, he was hospitalized again for a knee infection, but he said this summer that his health was fine, according to the newspaper.

The president sent his “warmest condolences” to Cummings’ family and friends on Thursday morning.

“I got to see first hand the strength, passion and wisdom of this highly respected political leader. His work and voice on so many fronts will be very hard, if not impossible, to replace!” Trump wrote on Twitter about 9 a.m.

Cummings, who had represented Maryland’s 7th congressional district since 1996, had not taken part in a roll call vote since Sept. 11.

On Oct. 4, he subpoenaed the White House for documents related to the House impeachment probe after administration officials failed to comply with repeated requests for the materials related to Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

In addition to his committee, two other House panels are leading the impeachment investigation – the Intelligence Committee chaired by Rep. Adam Schiff and the Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

“Such sad news this morning. @RepCummings was my friend and a giant of public service and the U.S. Congress. His presence, passion and moral clarity will be missed and my heart goes out to his family and constituents,” Nadler said in a tweet.

Schiff called Cummings “the heart and soul of our caucus, a dignified leader with a voice that could move mountains. He was our moral and ethical North Star.”

In his tweet, he added: “Now we will be guided by his powerful memory and incomparable legacy.

Rest In Peace, my friend.”

A sharecropper’s son, the former Maryland state delegate and trial attorney was a formidable orator who passionately advocated for the poor in his black-majority district, which covers a large portion of Baltimore as well as more well-to-do suburbs.

In 2019, Cummings became a national figure as chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and became a thorn in the president’s side.

With Democrats assuming the House majority after the 2018 elections, he won the ability to demand documents related to Trump’s personal finances and policies, as well as possible abuses at federal agencies.

Trump responded by criticizing the Democrat’s district as a “rodent-infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.”

His comments came weeks after Trump drew bipartisan condemnation following his calls for Democratic congresswomen of color to get out of the US “right now,” and go back to their “broken and crime-infested countries.”

Cummings fired back that government officials must stop making “hateful, incendiary comments” that divide and distract the nation from its real problems, including mass shootings and the scourge of white supremacy.

“Those in the highest levels of the government must stop invoking fear, using racist language and encouraging reprehensible behavior,” he said in a speech at the National Press Club.

Cummings said he had just a single one-on-one conversation with Trump — in 2017 when both were working on plans to lower prescription drug prices, according to the Baltimore Sun.

He recalled saying: “Mr. President, you’re now 70-something, I’m 60-something. Very soon you and I will be dancing with the angels. The thing that you and I need to do is figure out what we can do — what present can we bring to generations unborn?”

Cummings said he then told the president that “we don’t need to be doing mean things. We don’t need to be just representing 30-something percent of the people that like us. You need to represent all the people.”

Cummings, who was born in 1951, was one of seven children of Robert Cummings Sr. and Ruth Elma Cummings, who were sharecroppers on land where their ancestors were enslaved. The couple moved to Baltimore in the late 1940s.

As a youngster, Cummings struggled in elementary school and was assigned to special- education classes – but after showing promise in high school, he earned Phi Beta Kappa honors at Howard University in Washington.

He received a bachelor’s degree in political science, graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law and passed the state bar in 1976.

In 1982, Cummings ran for state delegate and won, served in the Maryland General Assembly for 14 years and became the first African-American in state history to be named speaker pro tem.

In 1995, he decided to run for Maryland’s 7th congressional district after Rep. Kweisi Mfume announced he would resign to lead the NAACP. He was elected to office in 1996.

The Baltimore archdiocese tweeted that Cummings “generously shared his God-given gifts and talents w/the people of his beloved city, state and nation for so many years. We give thanks for his dedicated service and pray for the repose of his soul.”

With Post wires