John R. Bruno, who helped run press operations for the campaign of former Gov. Robert B. Meyner when he sought a third term in 1969 and for Newark Mayor Kenneth Gibson in 1970, died on September 26. He was 94. A World War II veteran, he later ran a grants consulting firm.
Janet Sobkowicz, a former Washington Township Mayor, died on September 29. She was 74. Sobkowicz spent 37 years in local government, winning a council seat in 1981 and election as mayor in 2009. In 2004, she was a Republican candidate for Bergen County Freeholder. She retired in 2018.
Fred Cranwell, a former sportswriter for the Hudson Dispatch, Jersey Journal and New York Daily News, died on September 19 after a short battle with brain cancer. He was 86. Cranwell had also been the sports information director at St. Peter’s University.