Gloria A. Decker, a barrier-breaking fixture in New Jersey politics for seven decades who served as both Democratic and Republican county chair in Warren County, as state lottery director, and as mayor of Phillipsburg, died on July 23. She was 91.
She started in politics in 1953, at age 21, working as a volunteer on the gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Robert B. Meyner, a former Senate minority leader from her hometown of Phillipsburg.
Phillipsburg Mayor Joseph Brennan appointed Decker to a vacant school board seat in 1968 after Elise Takacs resigned. Phillipsburg moved to an elected Board of Education in 1970; the appointed members served with newly elected members until their terms expired.
Decker was a replacement alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, where she supported Hubert Humphrey.
She ran on an organization-backed statewide uncommitted delegate slate in 1972. She faced Linda Szekers, an 18-year-old high school student from Alpha who ran on a slate pledged to George McGovern. Decker won by 266 votes, 53.5% to 46.5%.
Soon after, Decker was elected Warren County Democratic Chair, the first woman to hold the post.
In February 1973, Decker lost her bid for re-election to the school board. She lost by about 200 votes.
In 1973, Decker initially endorsed former Senate Minority Leader Richard J. Coffee (D-Lawrence) for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. After Coffee dropped out, Decker backed Brendan Byrne.
After the election, Decker became a confidential aide to the executive director of the New Jersey Lottery Commission during the infancy of the state lottery. Byrne nominated her to serve as executive director in 1977 and she was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.
Decker ran for delegate again 1976, running on a statewide uncommitted slate aimed at stopping Jimmy Carter and nominating Jerry Brown or Humphrey. The Carter slate prevailed in Decker’s district, and she lost by about 700 votes.
She remained as county chair until 1979.
After leaving office in 1982, Decker worked as a lottery consultant, helping the District of Columbia and the Dominican Republic establish a lottery. She also served on the Warren County Board of Taxation.
In 1989, Decker was one of eight candidates seeking three seats on the Phillipsburg Town Council in the May non-partisan election. Decker finished second, nearly 300 votes ahead of the fourth-place finisher.
After Phillipsburg changed to a partisan form of government in 1991, Decker switched parties and sought the Republican nomination for mayor. In a close race, Decker beat businessman Sal Cassar by eight votes after a recount.
She became mayor in July and then won in November when she defeated Democrat Arthur Paini, a former town commissioner, by about 150 votes, a 41%-37% margin, with 22% going to Cessar, who ran as a write-in candidate.
When she ran for re-election in 1995, Decker defeated future perennial candidate Roger Bacon by roughly 60 votes, 55%-45%, in the Republican primary.
But in the general election, Decker lost her bid for a second term as mayor; Democrat Tom Corcoran defeated her by a wide 800-vote margin, 63%-37%.
Gov. Christine Todd Whitman appointed her as a commissioner of the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission in 1994. She served for nearly a decade. Whitman also appointed Decker to serve as executive director of the New Jersey Real Estate Commission; she held that post from 1996 to 2002.
She later served as Warren GOP vice chair, and became interim county chair in early 2004 between the resignation of Walter Orcutt and the election of Douglas Steinhardt.
She is survived by her husband of 71 years, Jay R. Decker, her son and daughter, four grandchildren, and a great-grandson
A visitation will be held at the Devlin Funeral Home in Phillipsburg on Saturday, August 3 from 1-4 PM. A memorial service will be held at 4 PM at the funeral home.