Representative Donald M. Payne, a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus who achieved a long-held goal of becoming the first black congressman from New Jersey, died on Tuesday in Livingston, N.J. He was 77.

The cause was complications of colon cancer, his office said. He died at St. Barnabas Medical Center.

Mr. Payne, a Democrat, announced his cancer diagnosis in February but ruled out taking a leave of absence, saying he planned to seek re-election because his doctors expected him to make a full recovery.

He had declared his ambition to become New Jersey’s first black congressman as early as 1974, when he was an Essex County legislator. But he was defeated in 1980 and 1986 in primary races to unseat Representative Peter W. Rodino Jr., the longtime dean of the state’s Congressional delegation and a popular figure in the heavily Democratic and largely black 10th Congressional District, which includes sections of Essex, Hudson and Union Counties.