George G. Woody, Jr., a former Republican councilman in Roselle who later switched parties to become New Jersey’s first Black county chairman, died on May 20. He was 95.
Woody became the first Black to win a seat on the Roselle City Council in 1957. He ran on a ticket headed by Republican gubernatorial candidate Malcolm S. Forbes, who unsuccessfully challenged Gov. Robert Meyner that year.
He switched parties in 1960 and was re-elected as a Democrat. At the time, Roselle was considered a swing town: Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy won 51% and Republican U.S. Senator Clifford Case, who lived in Rahway, received 60%. He served as council president.
Woody was a Democratic candidate for the New Jersey State Assembly in 1963, at a time when Union County’s five lower house seats were all elected in at-large elections. Democrats had won four of the five seats in 1961 – only Republican Nelson Stamler (R-Union) had survived.
Stamler ran for the Senate in 1963, and Republicans Peter J. McDonough (R-Plainfield), Frank X. McDermott (R-Westfield), Nicholas St. John LaCorte (R-Elizabeth) and Loree Collins (R-Summit) were the top four vote-getters. Assemblywoman Mildred Barry Hughes (D-Union) edged out Mountainside Councilman Henry Wester by 1,684 votes to win re-election to a third term.
Assemblyman Jerome Krueger (D-Linden) was unseated and Woody finished last, finishing 6,600 votes behind Hughes.
Woody ran again for the Assembly in 1965, and with Democratic Gov. Richard J. Hughes heading the ticket — he carried Union County by thirteen percentage points – he nearly won.
Democrats won three of the five seats and Woody came with 875 votes of ousting McDermott, who would go on to win a State Senate seat in 1967, serve as Senate President, and run for governor in 1969. Collins was defeated; Hughes and McDonough faced off when reapportionment gave Union County a second State Senate seat; Hughes won by 1,841 votes to become the first woman to serve in the New Jersey Senate.
Woody became the Roselle Democratic Municipal Chairman in 1969. He had also served as executive director of the New Jersey Urban Loan Authority.
After Donald Lan announced in June 1977 that he would not seek a third term as Union County Democratic Chairman – he would later be nominated by Gov. Brendan Byrne to serve as New Jersey Secretary of State – Woody became a candidate to succeed him.
He defeated Freeholder Chairman John Mollozzi of Roselle Park by a vote of 285 to 192.
Woody held Mollozzi to a 62 to 46 win in Elizabeth, even though Mollozzi’s law partner, David Conti, had been elected Elizabeth Democratic Municipal Chairman the night before.
In the same race, Charlotte DeFilippo, who would later become the state’s first woman party boss, ousted Thomas DeLuca for the post of comptroller of the Union County Democratic Committee.
That was the third loss in five months for Mollozzi. He had started the year as the front-runner for the open 21st district State Senate seat but stepped aside so that Union Mayor Anthony E. Russo could run. He then became a candidate for the State Assembly, but Democrats went in a different direction.
Woody did not seek re-election in 1978 and was replaced by Harry P. Pappas. He later served as chairman of the Union County Improvement Authority.
A U.S. Navy veteran during World War II, Woody was the founder of the G.G. Woody Funeral Home in Roselle
The block of 9th Avenue between Chester and Walnut Streets in Roselle was named G.G. Woody Way in tribute to the former council president.
Woody was predeceased by his wife, Beulah, and a son, George III. He is survived by his two daughters and his grandchildren.
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