Ronald Stanley Dancer (May 31, 1949 – July 23, 2022) was an American Republican Party politician. He spent nearly 20 years in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

, initially representing the 30th legislative district between 2002 and 2012. He later redistricted to the 12th legislative district in 2012, serving until his death in 2022.

Early life

Dancer was born on May 31, 1949, to Rachel Young and Stanley Dancer, the latter of whom was a professional

harness racer Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Austral ...

. He attended the Peddie School, Wesley College (majoring in Business Administration) and the

Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy The Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy of Rutgers University (The Bloustein School) serves as a center for the theory and practice of urban planning, public policy and public health/health administration scholarship. The sc ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

.Assemblyman Dancer's legislative web page
New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 27, 2022. He also served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

from 1969 to 1971. In 1970 Ronald became the youngest driver ever to compete in harness racing’s Hambletonian.

Mayor of Plumsted

Dancer's first elected office was serving on the Plumsted Township committee. He was chosen as mayor in 1990 and continued to be selected for one-year terms until 2011 when he retired from the committee. He has served on the

Ocean County Ocean County is a county located along the Jersey Shore in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Its county seat is Toms River.double dipping A dual mandate is the practice in which elected officials serve in more than one elected or other public position simultaneously. This practice is sometimes known as double jobbing in Britain and ''cumul des mandats'' in France; not to be confused ...

, was allowed under a grandfather clause in the state law enacted by the New Jersey Legislature and signed into law by

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official r ...

Jon Corzine Jon Stevens Corzine ( ; born January 1, 1947) is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006 and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran fo ...

in September 2007 that prevented dual-office-holding but allows those who had held both positions as of February 1, 2008, to retain both posts.

New Jersey Assembly

In November 2002, Republican County Committee representatives from the 30th Legislative District (which at the time was made up of portions of

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...

, Monmouth, and Ocean counties) chose Dancer to fill the vacancy created by Melvin Cottrell's death; Dancer defeated Howell Township Councilmember Joseph DiBella by a 106–72 margin. He had been re-elected to two year terms four times from the 30th District before winning twice from the 12th District.

Committees

*Agriculture and Natural Resources *Military and Veterans' Affairs *Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations *Tourism, Gaming and the Arts

District 12

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the

. The representatives from the 12th District for the 2022—23 Legislative Session are: * Senator Samuel D. Thompson (R) * Assemblyman Robert D. Clifton (R) * Assemblyman Ronald S. Dancer (R)

Personal life and death

Dancer and his wife, Brenda, had two children. He died after a long illness on July 23, 2022, aged 73.

Electoral history

Assembly District 12

Assembly District 30

References

External links

Assemblyman Dancer's legislative web page
New Jersey Legislature *''New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms''
201220112010200920082007200620052004Assembly Member Ronald S. Dancer

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

USTrotting.com article on Assemblyman Dancer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dancer, Ronald S. 1949 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians Mayors of places in New Jersey Military personnel from New Jersey Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Peddie School alumni People from Plumsted Township, New Jersey Politicians from Ocean County, New Jersey Politicians from Trenton, New Jersey Place of death missing Rutgers University alumni Wesley College (Delaware) alumni