Ralph D'Ambola Archives - New Jersey Globe

Thomas Cooke, former East Orange mayor, dies of coronavirus at 90

May 29, 2020 4:03 pmOctober 10, 2021 9:44 pm

Former East Orange Mayor Thomas H. Cooke, Jr., one of the first African American politicians to achieve success in Essex County in the 1960s, died on May 18 of complications related to the coronavirus pandemic. He was 90. Cooke was...

The fall of Harry Lerner

July 22, 2019 3:40 amJuly 24, 2019 8:33 pm

When longtime Essex County Democratic boss Dennis Carey retired for health reasons in 1968, County Treasurer Harry Lerner faced Hugh Addonizio, the two-term Mayor of Newark and a former seven-term congressman, for the post. Lerner, who had lost a race...