In Memoriam

Edward McManimon III, the founder of a major and politically active New Jersey law firm, McManimon, Scotland & Bauman, died on February 2 after a long illness.  He was 77.

Richard Russo, a former Assistant Commissioner of Health and a bureau chief in the old New Jersey Department of Institutions and Agencies, died on February 8.  He was 96.  A World War II U.S. Navy veteran, President Nixon had appointed him to the National Action Committee on Drug Education; he served in George H.W. Bush’s White House as the deputy director for treatment in the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Joyce Persico, who spent 40 years as a reporter for the Trenton Times, died on January 24.  She was 76.

Anthony Lamanna, a retired New Jersey State Trooper who was assigned to the executive protection unit for Gov. Thomas Kean and Secretary of State Jane Burgio, died on January 30.  He was 77.  He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War.

William Dreier, a former presiding judge of the New Jersey Appellate Court who served as a Plainfield city councilman in the early 1960s, died on February 2.  He was 86.

Richard Rebeck, who served as Middlesex County Prosecutor from 1978 to 1983, and as a Superior Court Judge from 1983 to 2000, died on January 31.  He was 90.  A U.S. Air Force veteran, Rebeck was a law clerk to New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Thomas Schettino and a law partner of former State Sen. John Toolan (D-Woodbridge).

Teresa Politano, who served as the managing editor of the Home News Tribune during what her family called “the heyday of New Jersey’s newspaper wars,” died on January 24.  She was 62.  She was part of the merger between the Home News and the News Tribune, and also worked for the Star-Ledger, the Asbury Park Press.  Politano also taught journalism at Rutgers University.

Peter Berenbak, a reporter for the Daily Record in the 1970s and 1989s, died on January 22.  He was 79.  A U.S. Army veteran, Berenbak was the Morris County campaign director for George McGovern’s presidential bid in 1972.

Bruce Crowe, a former mayor and councilman in Mullica, died on January 25.  He was 77.

Samuel Podietz, a former Lumberton mayor and school board member who served on the New Jersey State Board of Education, died on January 24.   He was 84.

Matthew DeMichele, who served as a Seaside Park councilman for two terms, died on February 4.  He was 54.

John Melillo, Sr., a former Spotswood councilman, died on January 28.  He was 88.

Patrick Rouse, a former Tenafly councilman, died on January 21.  He was 85.  Rouse was a U.S. Army veteran.

Joseph Cassini  III, who spent two decades as a Superior Court Judge and twelve years as a municipal court judge in West Orange, died on January 19.  He was 73.

Ronald Moissinac, a former Daily Record reporter and the owner of the South Jersey Advisor Newspaper Group, died on January 30.  He was 82.  Moissinac was a U.S. Navy veteran.

Herbert Kaplan, a former East Brunswick municipal court judge and assistant prosecutor in Middlesex County, died on February 3.  He was 89.  Kaplan was a U.S. Army veteran.

Ronald LeVine, who served as a municipal court judge in Midland Park, died on February 4.  He was 75.

Edward Kozmor, a former Pleasantville municipal court judge and Ventnor municipal prosecutor, died on January 13.  He was 89.  Kozmor was a U.S. Army veteran.

Kenneth Francis, a former Upper Freehold Republican municipal chairman, died on February 9.  He was 87.  His wife of 67 years, Mildred, a former Monmouth County court clerk, died on the same day.

Miriam “Teddy” Murphy, a former executive director of the New Jersey Humanities Council and Tewksbury planning board member, died on January 18.  She was 97.

James W. Smith, who served on the planning board in Middletown, died on February 9.  He was 88.

Louis McCall, a former Wenonah Board of Education president and member of the planning and zoning boards, died on January 22.  He was 64.

Donald Simpson, a former Moorestown school board member, died on January 14.  He was 93.

Tunis Verbkaauw, who served a president of the Prospect Park Board of Education, died on February 3.  He was 82.

Frank Dardzinski, a longtime member of the Trenton Polish-American Democratic Club, died on January 19.  He was 85.

Dorothy Hoagland, a former president of the Berkeley Township Women’s Republican Club, died on January 13.  She was 95.

Nicholas Lewis, a Closter resident who served as an assistant district attorney in the Bronx, died on February 4.  He was 41.

Edward DeCrescenzo, a former Jersey City police officer and Weehawken public school teacher, died on January 23.  He was 96.  A World War II veteran, DeCrescenzo was the husband of former Superior Court Judge Marilyn Davis.

Loretta Knisel, one of the “Jersey Johnson Girls,” featured in Life magazine during the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, died on January 29.  She was 84.