Joseph Aaron Lazarow (December 17, 1923 – January 3, 2008) was an American politician fromNew Jersey,[1] who served as theMayor ofAtlantic City, New Jersey from 1976 to 1982, during the period whencasino gambling was introduced to the strugglingJersey Shore community.[2]
Lazarow was born in Atlantic City in 1923 to Eva and Morris Lazarow, and graduated fromAtlantic City High School. His attendance atRutgers University-New Brunswick was cut short by his enlistment in theUnited States Army, where he served from 1942 to 1945 as a private. After his discharge, he returned to Rutgers and ultimately moved on toTemple University, where he completed both his undergraduate and law degrees.[3]
He had been elected to the City Commission in 1972, and was selected by his peers to serve as mayor in 1976. As mayor, Lazarow was named chairman of the Committee to Rebuild Atlantic City, a group developed to support the passage of the 1976 statewide referendum that approved gambling in New Jersey. He unsuccessfully opposed construction of casinos on the city's four-mile (6 km) longBoardwalk, citing concerns that the area's residents, advocating that the hotels should be cited in unused wetlands on the city's outskirts.[4][5] Lazarow worked with New Jersey's governor and other state officials to obtain aid to construct low-cost housing for the poor and elderly displaced by construction projects.[6] An effort by Lazarow to restrict casino jobs to Atlantic City residents was similarly unsuccessful.[2]
With Lazarow on hand,Resorts International Hotel and Casino opened on May 26, 1978, the first legalized gambling casino on theEast Coast of the United States and the first outsideNevada.[7]
Lazarow was recognized by theGuinness Book of World Records for a July 1977 publicity stunt, in which the mayor shook more than 11,000 hands in a single day, breaking the record previously held byTheodore Roosevelt, who had set the record with 8,513handshakes at aWhite House reception on January 1, 1907.[2]
He had lived in the city's Lower Chelsea section since the mid-1950s, until the 1993 death of his wife, the former Fredlyn Pogach ofPhiladelphia. Lazarow moved toFort Lauderdale, Florida in 1995. He died inSt. Petersburg, Florida on January 3, 2008 at the age of 84.[2][3]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Joseph Bradway, Jr. | Mayor of Atlantic City 1976–1982 | Succeeded by |