Warren M. Branch, who represented a swath of East Baltimore on City Council for close to a decade, died last week at age 63, his brother said Sunday.

Talmadge Branch, a former state delegate, said he wasn’t sure of the cause of death but said his brother had heart issues and diabetes.

Warren Branch grew up in the Madison East End neighborhood east of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, in the same district he would represent on City Council from 2007 to 2016.

He belonged to a politically active Baltimore family. Talmadge Branch served as the majority whip in the Maryland House of Delegates for more than a decade, stepping down in 2022. And Talmadge’s daughter, Chanel Branch, served a term representing Baltimore’s District 45 before losing a reelection bid the same year that her father retired from the General Assembly.

Talmadge Branch remembered his brother as a good guy and a family man. He said it was Warren Branch’s dream to serve as a city councilmember.

“He pretty much loved and enjoyed working on the council,” Talmadge Branch said.

Before entering politics, Warren Branch enjoyed a long career as a city inspector, working for more than two decades in the Department of Public Works.

In 2007, at age 46, Branch ran for the council’s District 13 seat and defeated Vernon Crider in a narrow Democratic primary election. He campaigned on bringing neighborhood associations, churches, businesses and schools together to come up with a plan for the city, according to The Baltimore Sun at the time.

After serving four years on City Council, Branch faced a formidable grassroots challenge from Shannon Sneed, an upstart TV news producer. After facing criticism that he was not responsive enough to his constituents’ concerns, Branch squeaked by Sneed in the Democratic primary by just 43 votes.

Sneed continued her campaign as a write-in candidate that November, though, and Branch stepped up his involvement in the neighborhood, The Sun reported. “For me, it’s all about constituent services,” Branch told a reporter.

Branch hung on narrowly that November, but Sneed would eventually end his tenure on City Council, unseating him in 2016.

Former Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young recalled first meeting Branch when the two future politicians were young boys growing up in the same neighborhood in East Baltimore. City Council’s president for much of Branch’s tenure there, Young described his longtime friend as an ally in City Hall.

Branch was a “stickler” for getting things done for his community, Young said, and knew from his years of work as city inspector how to make them happen. He was a wonderful, easygoing person, the former mayor said, soft-spoken but also forceful when needed.

“He was my go-to guy when I first got on the council,” Young said.

According to his official state bio, Warren Branch was born in Baltimore on Jan. 6, 1961, and attended Baltimore City Community College before being certified as a paralegal. In addition to serving as a public works inspector, Branch worked as a real estate agent, an emergency medical technician from 1983 to 1993 and a tenant advocate for the Public Justice Center in 1992. He also led the Madison East End Improvement Association in 1995, served on the board of the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition and was a member of the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee from 2006 to 2010.

The committee issued a statement praising him: “Warren Branch dedicated his life to being a true public servant and we will miss his presence and contributions.”

A memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at Chatman-Harris Funeral Home in Northeast Baltimore.