Former New Jersey governor Brendan Byrne dies

Dustin Racioppi
NorthJersey
Former NJ Governor Brendan T. Byrne tells jokes at a celebrity roast in honor of his 90th birthday in Newark PAC.

Brendan T. Byrne, the 47th governor of New Jersey who ushered in the state income tax, brought gambling to Atlantic City and protected the Pinelands in one of the greatest acts of executive power, died Thursday at age 93.

His death was announced by Gov. Chris Christie. No cause was given. 

Christie, a Republican, hardly agreed with Byrne, a Democrat, on policy, but often said that he admired Byrne's conviction and his position in state history as a "governor of consequence."

Byrne indeed suffered for some of those convictions. He had won election in 1973 in what was then the biggest landslide in state history, largely on his reputation as the rare above-board politician in the era of Watergate and public discontent with public officials. But upon taking office in 1974, Byrne faced high unemployment, a national gasoline crisis and a need for revenue primarily because of a state Supreme Court mandate raising the state's share for public schools. Two years later, Byrne pushed through a controversial income tax that helped bring more money into state coffers, but also helped earn him the nickname "One-Term Byrne" and seemed to doom his chances for re-election. 

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Byrne had been down in re-election polls at one point by 20 points, and his approval rating with the public remained below 30 percent. But Byrne, known for his sharp wit, did not seem bothered by his dismal standing with the public. 

“I knew I’d get re-elected when people started waving at me using all five fingers," he once said, according to the Center on the American Governor at Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics. 

Byrne made his case for the tax and rebounded, winning a second term in 1977 — and no Democrat since has achieved that. Byrne went headlong into major issues during his second term. He advanced the development of the Meadowlands by building a sports venue — originally named Brendan Byrne Arena but now known as the Meadowlands Arena — and expanded major highways like the Atlantic City Expressway and Interstate 287. And having legalized gambling in Atlantic City during his re-election bid, Byrne continued to oversee development in the resort town as it transformed into a gambling hub.

Byrne also issued a pair of executive orders halting development in the Pinelands, which was "widely viewed as one of the farthest reaches of executive power ever taken by an American governor," according to Eagleton. Byrne's action was followed by legislation protecting the vast, wooded jewel of the state. His signature of the Pinelands Protection Act, he said, was "the single most important accomplishment of his administration, and the issue that is most central to his legacy as governor," according to Eagleton. Today 37,000 protected acres formerly known as Lebanon State Forest bear his name. 

Brendan Thomas Byrne was born April 1, 1924, and raised in West Orange the fourth of five children to Irish-American parents. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, earning medals of distinction as a young bomber. After being discharged in 1945, Byrne used the GI Bill to pay his tuition at Princeton University before earning his law degree at Harvard Law School.

Byrne returned to New Jersey and practiced law in Newark and East Orange. He turned to politics in 1955 when he was appointed assistant counsel to Gov. Robert Meyner. From there he went on to become the Essex County Prosecutor, president of the Board of Public Utilities Commissioners and a Superior Court judge, his final public position until successfully running for governor. 

Byrne was married to Ruthie Zinn Byrne and was the father of seven children, one of whom, Brendan T. Byrne Jr. but goes by Tom, leads the State Investment Council.  He could not be reached for comment and detailed information on other survivors was not immediately available. Jean Byrne, his wife from his first marriage, died in 2015. 

Byrne was a fixture of New Jersey politics for the last six decades, even as his health deteriorated. He often participated on an annual panel of former governors during the state League of Municipalities Convention in Atlantic City, and regularly attended gubernatorial events at the Statehouse. He was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2011. 

Following his governorship, Byrne had a long-running column in the Star-Ledger with his successor, Republican Tom Kean, where they discussed the politics of the moment. In a statement, Kean said that Byrne was "one of New Jersey’s best governors, a genuinely decent man and a very caring friend." 

Byrne had come into office with a reputation for rooting out corruption, and by the time he left became known for reliable wit. Those two characteristics fused in perhaps his most well-known joke, told endlessly in New Jersey politics as a nod to its reputation for corruption. 

“I want to be buried in Hudson County," Byrne said, "so that I can remain active in politics.”