Gerald D. Silliphant, a highly-respected career legislative staffer who went from the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services to become executive director of the Senate Minority Office, and then back to OLS, died on July 29. He was 95.
In his day, Silliphant might easily have made a power list as one of the most influential insiders in New Jersey politics. He retired to Florida in 1997 and was largely unknown to the next generation of state politicos.
After stint with Prudential Insurance, he began his career in government as a budget analyst for the Ohio State Department of Finance in 1957. He moved to New Jersey, where his wife was from, in 1962, and got a job with OLS as a budget analyst. Four years later, Silliphant became the legislature’s chief budget analyst.
Senate Minority Leader James Cafiero (R-North Wildwood) named Silliphant to run the Senate Republican staff in 1976, when the GOP was down to just ten senators following the Watergate Democratic wave election.
He succeeded Lewis B. Thurston III, who became executive director of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission after David Norcross stepped down to seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
After Thurston returned to the Senate in July of 1981 – he would later become Gov. Thomas Kean’s first chief of staff in January 1982 – Silliphant returned to OLS. He remained there until his retirement in 1992 as the legislature’s finance and budget officer.
A World War II veteran, Silliphant served on the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education and on the Pennington Board of Health. He was an adjunct professor at Rider University.
He is survived by his wife, Goldie Garnich, three daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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