Dr. Roscoe Brown Jr., the former president of Bronx Community College and one of the Tuskegee Airmen, has passed away.

His family says Brown died Saturday at Montefiore Medical Center after a fall that broke his hip and sapped energy from the way he wanted to live.

Many credit Brown with being the first pilot to shoot down an advanced German jet during in-air combat with his P-51 Mustang propeller plane.

The chancellor of the City University of New York released a statement on Brown's passing saying, "It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of Dr. Roscoe C. Brown Jr., the former president of Bronx Community College, who served his country with great distinction in World War II as one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen and later as a leading champion for Civil Rights."

Brown was 94 years old.