Jerry Green, one of the state’s most popular and powerful political figures who passed away last April at age 79, was honored today with the dedication of the Assemblyman Gerald B. Green Plaza in his home city of Plainfield.
The event, hosted by State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden), who replaced Green as the Union County Democratic chairman. Gov. Phil Murphy, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), State Sen. Joseph Cryan (D-Union) and more than two dozen legislators, freeholders, county and municipal officials were on hand to pay tribute to the former Assembly Speaker Pro-Tempore.
Murphy called Green “a giant of the Legislature” and said he was irreplaceable.
“It is abundantly clear to all of us the impact he had on life,” Murphy said. “Jerry wasn’t just politics, he was about results. Standing up for folks who had no one else to turn.”
Murphy said that over the course of his 26 years in the State Assembly, Green had attached his name to thousands of bills.
“The number of lives he touched was exponentially more,” said Murphy. “This plaza will last for several generations, if not more, and much like Jerry’s influence and good work in government, it will endure,” Murphy said.
The governor recalled that Green’s understated and disarming humor could easily break up a tense conversation.
“I’m sure he’s looking down at us right now wondering why we’re making such a fuss over him,” Murphy told the audience. “Yet I’m equally sure he’s smiling — that incandescent smile — knowing that it is the very least that we can do.”
Menendez called Green “a voice for the voiceless.”
“We saw it in the way he stood up for his constituents. We saw it in the legislation that he passed. We saw it in the causes that he took throughout his 26 years in the Legislature,” Menendez said. “It’s no exaggeration to say that Jerry cared about the people of Plainfield and greater Union County that way he cared about his own family.”
Coughlin said that Green “found his calling” as the chairman of the Assembly Housing Committee.
“Jerry’s name became synonymous with the fight to provide affordable housing to the people of New Jersey,” Coughlin said. “There was no greater advocate tan our friend Jerry Green.”