Former Hudson County mayor dies

Cookie Graham, a former mayor of East Newark, passed away on December 19.  He was 91.

A U.S. Navy veteran who served in World War II and the Korean War, he drove a delivery truck for Keebler Cookies before opening Ray Graham’s tavern in East Newark.  After his bar was destroyed in a fire, he worked as a supervisor for the Hudson County Parks Department.

Graham was a longtime volunteer firefighter in East Newark.  He served on the Harrison/East Newark Board of Education and as a councilman before beginning a ten-year stretch as mayor.