Frederick C. Kniesler, a former Monmouth County Republican Chairman who held posts at the New Jersey Department of Labor under governors of both parties, died today. He was 93.
Kniesler first ran for office during President Dwight Eisenhower’s mid-term election and could be among the last surviving New Jerseyans to run on the same ticket as Republican gubernatorial candidate Malcolm Forbes.
Following the death of Leon Nelson in 1954, Kniesler was elected Upper Freehold Township Clerk. He was 24 and ran unopposed.
He ran for a seat on the Upper Freehold Township Committee in 1957; he faced no Democratic opposition but defeated independent Milton Klink by a 2-1 margin. He served as mayor from 1961 to 1965.
He worked in the Monmouth County Clerk’s office and resigned as a township committeeman at the end of 1968 because he was taking night classes at Rider University to earn a degree in accounting. Kniesler became the Monmouth County Purchasing Agent in 1974 and the clerk of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders in 1977. He became Deputy County Clerk in 1980 and served as the Upper Freehold Township Treasurer.
Kniesler was a delegate to the 1976 Republican National Convention pledged to President Gerald Ford. In 1984, he was a member of the Electoral College in New Jersey and pledged to Ronald Reagan.
In 1981, when the venerable Benjamin Danskin retired after over twelve years as county chairman, Monmouth Republicans ran unopposed to replace him. His first task was to pick a new assembly candidate in the 11th legislative district after incumbent William Dowd decided after the primary not to seek re-election; the replacement was Joseph Palaia, a freeholder and former Ocean Township mayor.
Kniesler held the county chairman post until his resignation in early 1986; Dowd succeeded him.
Gov. Thomas Kean appointed Kniesler as Assistant Commissioner of Labor for Income Security in 1986.
After Democrat Jim Florio became governor in January 1990, Kniesler became the Manalapan Township administrator. He returned to the Labor Department as deputy commissioner after Republican Christine Todd Whitman defeated Florio in the 1993 election. He held that post until his retirement in 1997.
In retirement, Kniesler served on the Monmouth County Recreation Commission.
Kniesler was a U.S. Army veteran and spent twelve years in the Army Reserves.
He is survived by his wife, Bunny, a son and daughter, and his grandchildren. Two of his sons, Rick and Chris, a former aide to Kean, predeceased him.