John F. Russo | |
|---|---|
| 108th President of theNew Jersey Senate | |
| In office January 14, 1986 – January 9, 1990 | |
| Preceded by | Carmen A. Orechio |
| Succeeded by | John A. Lynch Jr. |
| Member of theNew Jersey Senate | |
| In office January 8, 1974 – January 14, 1992 | |
| Preceded by | District created |
| Succeeded by | Andrew R. Ciesla |
| Constituency | 9th district (1974–1982) 10th district (1982–1992) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1933-07-11)July 11, 1933 Asbury Park, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | August 12, 2017(2017-08-12) (aged 84) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence | Toms River, New Jersey |
| Alma mater | University of Notre Dame (BA) Columbia University (JD) |
John F. Russo (July 11, 1933 – August 12, 2017) was an American attorney andDemocratic Party politician fromNew Jersey, who served in theNew Jersey Senate from 1974 to 1992 and was Senate President.
A resident ofToms River, New Jersey, Russo was born inAsbury Park, where he attendedAsbury Park High School. He was a 1955 graduate of theUniversity of Notre Dame and received a law degree fromColumbia Law School in 1958.[1]
He served for nine years as an assistant prosecutor inOcean County, and was first elected to the State Senate in 1973.[2]
In the Senate, Russo served on the Joint Committee on Appropriations and a Special Sub-Committee on Tax Reform and was the chair of theCommittee on Energy,Agriculture and Environment and theSenate Judiciary Committee. In 1982, he wrote a bill reinstatingcapital punishment in New Jersey.[3] Russo served asSenate President from 1986 to 1990.[4]
Russo ran for the Democratic Party nomination forGovernor of New Jersey in 1985, placing second behind nomineePeter Shapiro, who was in turn soundly defeated byThomas Kean in the general election.[2]
Following his retirement from the Senate, Russo was a partner at the Princeton Public Affairs Group.[4] In 2007, while a bill was proposed that would abolish capital punishment in the state, he sat on the Death Penalty Study Commission and testified against passage of the bill.
Russo died on August 12, 2017, ofesophageal cancer at the age of 84.[3]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of theNew Jersey Senate 1986-1990 | Succeeded by |
| New Jersey Senate | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theNew Jersey Senate from the10th district 1982–1992 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by District created | Member of theNew Jersey Senate from the9th district 1974–1982 | Succeeded by |
