Richard Codey, former New Jersey acting governor and long-serving lawmaker, dies at 79
Richard Codey, New Jersey's longest-serving legislator and former acting governor, died at 79 after a brief illness, family said; he championed mental health care advocacy.
Overview
Richard Codey, a Democrat and New Jersey's longest-serving lawmaker, died at 79 after a brief illness, his family said; he passed peacefully at home, surrounded by family.
First elected to the state Legislature in 1973, Codey served as a state senator from 1984 until retirement in 2024 and was Senate president in the 2000s.
As acting governor after Gov. Jim McGreevey's 2004 resignation, Codey served 14 months and advanced mental health care, smoke-free indoor laws, and stem cell research funding.
Elected officials including Gov. Phil Murphy, Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, and Sen. Andy Kim praised Codey's humility, legislative record, and his influence on state policy and public service.
Codey and his wife, Mary Jo, spoke openly about her postpartum depression; he authored a memoir and was remembered as approachable, compassionate, and devoted to constituents.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources present a restrained, factual obituary: chronological career highlights, sourced family statements, and policy positions without inflammatory language. They include a brief controversy but attribute competing claims to individuals, avoiding evaluative adjectives. Coverage emphasizes documented accomplishments and personal anecdotes rather than advancing a political narrative.
Sources (4)
FAQ
Richard Codey’s key accomplishments as acting governor included signing the landmark Smoke-Free Air Act banning smoking in most indoor public places, advancing public funding for stem cell research and establishing a public umbilical and placental stem cell bank, creating a Governor’s Task Force on Mental Health and implementing over 90% of its recommendations, signing a minimum wage increase, and approving the nation’s first legislative moratorium on executions in New Jersey.
Richard Codey made mental health a central focus of his governorship by creating the Governor’s Task Force on Mental Health, implementing the vast majority of its recommendations to improve services for people with mental illness, and using his and his wife Mary Jo’s openness about her postpartum depression to reduce stigma and build support for expanded mental health care and advocacy in the state.
Richard Codey is described as New Jersey’s longest-serving legislator because he served continuously in the state Legislature for roughly five decades, beginning in the Assembly in the mid-1970s and then in the Senate from the early 1980s through his retirement in 2024, giving him the longest tenure in Trenton in state history and also making him the state’s longest-serving senator.
Richard Codey became acting governor in November 2004 when Governor Jim McGreevey resigned amid a sex scandal, serving as governor from November 2004 until January 2006, and he had previously served briefly as acting governor in January 2002 during a transition between administrations and again for several weeks in 2007 after Governor Jon Corzine was injured in a car accident.
During his legislative career, Richard Codey served first as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, later as a state senator, and eventually as Senate president, including a period as co-Senate President when the chamber was evenly divided, making him one of the most powerful figures in state government for many years.
History
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