Byrne, Brendan

Brendan Byrne was born April 1, 1924 in ( New Jersey ) in the family of Francis Byrne and Genevieve Byrne. Brendan was the fourth of five children. His father, Francis, worked at the West Orange Tax Office, served on the Essex County Board of Taxes, and participated in various West Orange commissions. ^{[1] [2]}

In 1942, Brendan Byrne graduated from West Orange High School and enrolled at , located in South Orange , New Jersey. Having studied there for less than a year, in March 1943 Byrne joined the US Air Force . During the fighting in Europe, he served as the navigator of the “flying fortress” B-17 , was awarded the “ Cross of Flight Merit ”, “ Air Medal ” ( four times ) and “ ”, by the end of the service he had the rank of lieutenant ^{[1] [2]} .

In September 1945, Byrne's military service ended, he was in reserve for some time, and then began his studies at Princeton University , which he graduated in 1949. After that, in 1950, Byrne graduated from Harvard Law School . In February 1951, he passed the law test in New Jersey, after which he worked for McGlynn, Weintraub and Stein , and for the West Orange Planning Commission. ^[1]

June 27, 1953, Brendan Byrne married Jean Featherly , a teacher from West Orange. In 1954, they had a son, Brendan Thomas ("Tom"), later they had six more children - Susan, Nancy, Timothy, Mary Ann, Barbara and William ^[1] .

In 1955, Byrne was appointed Assistant Attorney General of New Jersey with the rights of the Special Prosecutor in the Bassey County, and then became a consultant to the Governor of New Jersey, . In 1956, Byrne served as Executive Secretary of Governor Meiner. On February 16, 1959, Byrne was appointed Acting Attorney of the Essex County ^[1] , and in July of that year, Meyner appointed him as the district attorney for a five-year term. In 1964, the Governor of New Jersey, extended the powers of Byrne, who continued to work in this position until January 1968. ^[2]

Byrne was appointed President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners in January 1968, and New Jersey Governor appointed him Supreme Court Justice in December 1970. Essex County. In July 1972, Byrne received a new appointment - he became a judge, whose area of ​​responsibility included the districts of Morris , Sussex and Warren ^[1] .

In April 1973, Brendan Byrne resigned as a judge to be able to run for New Jersey governor. On June 5, 1973, he won the primary election , which determined the candidate for the Democratic Party, and on November 6 won a landslide victory over Republican candidate , receiving 721 thousand more votes than his opponent - at that time, this was the biggest advantage in gubernatorial elections in the history of the state ^[1] .

Brendan Byrne took over as Governor of New Jersey on January 15, 1974 ^[4] . In June 1976, he signed into law the state income tax . In parallel, he introduced measures to reduce property tax for homeowners. In June 1977, Byrne signed an act authorizing the operation of casinos in one of the state's cities - Atlantic City . On June 7, 1977, he again won the primary election from the Democratic Party and became a candidate for the next governor term. On November 8, 1977, Republican defeated Byrne with a 300,000-vote margin in the election of Governor Byrne and thereby remained Governor of New Jersey for a second term. In 1978, he vetoed the New Jersey Death Penalty Bill twice. In June 1979, Byrne signed a decree on nature conservation and construction restrictions in the Pinelands National Reserve , which occupies about one fifth of the state ^[1] .

In January 1982, when the term of governorship ended, Byrne joined the law firm Carella, Bain, Gilfillan and Rhodes , which later changed its name to Carella, Byrne, Bain and Gilfillan . Since January 1989, Byrne has served as the Commissioner of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority for four years in New York State Sports and Exhibitions. In 1993, he divorced his first wife, Gene Featherly, and in August 1994, married a second time, to Ruthi Zinn ^[1] .

Brendan Byrne died on January 4, 2018 in his home in Livingston (New Jersey) from pneumonia ^[3] .

The name of Byrne is a large park in New Jersey - Brendan Byrne State Forest . Previously, it was called the Lebanon Forest Reserve ( English Lebanon State Forest ), and was renamed in honor of Byrne on July 24, 2002 ^[1] .

In 2015, a biography of Brendan Byrne was published under the name The Man Who Couldn't Be Bought ( ⁵⁾ .

• Governor Brendan Thomas Byrne , National Governors Association - www.nga.org