Bill Mathesius, who served as Mercer County Executive from 1980 to 1992, died on Sunday after a fall. He was 85.
A former acting Mercer County Prosecutor, Mathesius, became the Republican candidate for county executive in 1979. He defeated Arthur Sypek, a Democrat who had become Mercer’s first county executive four years earlier, by roughly 6,000 votes, a 54%-46% margin.
He was re-elected in 1983 by about 9,000 votes against Democrat Joseph Teague; he won his third term in 1987 by a narrow margin of roughly 725 votes countywide against Assemblyman Joseph Bocchini (D-Hamilton).
Mathesis did not seek re-election in 1991 and was succeeded by another Republican, Robert Prunetti.
He later served as a New Jersey Superior Court Judge.