A memorial service for Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver is set for Saturday, August 12 at 10 AM at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark as the final piece of a three-day New Jersey State Funeral in tribute to her four decades of public service.
Oliver, the first Black woman to serve as Assembly Speaker and to win a statewide election in New Jersey, died after an extended illness on August 1. She was 71.
The service is open to the public; attendees are asked to arrive by 9:15 AM.
Rev. Al Sharpton will deliver the eulogy. Dionne Warwick, a native of East Orange, will also deliver remarks.
Speakers include: Gov. Phil Murphy; Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo; Acting Commissioner of Community Affairs Kimberly Holmes; former Gov. James E. McGreevey; Reps. Donald Payne, Jr. and Bonnie Watson Coleman; Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz; Democratic State Chairman/Essex County Democratic Chairman LeRoy Jones, Jr.; State Sen. Nia Gill; Assemblyman Thomas Giblin; Assemblywomen Shavonda Sumter and Britnee Timberlake; civil rights leader Jeannine LaRue; East Orange Councilman Christopher James, Oliver’s former chief of staff; Newark Mayor Ras Baraka; former Newark City Councilwoman Bessie Walker; and Democratic State Committeewoman Terry Tucker, a longtime Oliver staffer.
Members of the clergy participating in the memorial service include: Rev. DeForest “Buster” Soaries, who will preside over the memorial; Rev. Stefanie Minatee; Rev. Steffie Bartley; and the Jubilation Choir.
Among the family and friends to speak will be Oliver’s brother, Charles, her sister-in-law, Sylvia, her nierces, Renee and Leah, her nephew, Charles, along with Cherry Bellamy, Ericka Streeter, and Lexi Langley.
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