John M. Summerill Jr. (August 3, 1898 – August 24, 1969) was an AmericanRepublican Party politician who served as President of theNew Jersey State Senate and as Acting Governor of New Jersey.
Summerill was born August 3, 1898, inPenns Grove, New Jersey, the son of John M. Summerill and Eleanor W. Jacoby Summerill. He attendedWenonah Academy and is a 1922 graduate ofRutgers University, where he was a four-letter man. He was an assistant coach of the Rutgers football team under coachGeorge Sanford. He received his law degree from the New Jersey Law School (now Rutgers University Law School). He practiced law in Camden County before opening a law office in Salem County in 1935. He was elected Republican State Committeeman from Salem County in 1933 and held that post until 1943. During World War I, Summerill was a member of the Students Army Training Corps.[1]
He was elected to theNew Jersey General Assembly in 1928, at age 30, and was re-elected in 1929 and 1930.[2]
Summerill was elected to theNew Jersey State Senate in 1938. He was the Senate President in 1948, and during the extended illness of GovernorAlfred Driscoll, he served as the Acting Governor. Summerill was defeated in his 1955 bid for re-election by DemocratJohn A. Waddington, an Assemblyman.[3]
