William J. Hamilton Jr. (December 26, 1932 – October 10, 2019) was an American

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

politician from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, who served in both houses of the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

, where he represented Middlesex County. He was Speaker of 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 for ...

for the 1977 session.

Biography

Hamilton was born in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

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

in 1954, he served as a

United States Naval Aviator A naval aviator is a commissioned officer or warrant officer qualified as a crewed aircraft pilot in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps. United States Coast Guard crewed aircraft pilots are officially designated as "Coast Guard ...

, rising to the rank of

Lieutenant, Junior Grade Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), i ...

and later to

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the Reserves. In 1960 he received a J.D. from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

. He moved to Florida, where he was a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge

John Milton Bryan Simpson John Milton Bryan Simpson (May 30, 1903 – August 22, 1987) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and previously was a United ...

(1960–1961) and an assistant U.S. attorney (1962–67). Hamilton returned to New Brunswick, becoming a partner in the law firm of Hamilton and Mulligan. He served as New Brunswick director of municipal civil defense and disaster control in 1970. The following year he was elected to the

from District 7-A encompassing western Middlesex County. In 1973 following a statewide redistricting, he was reelected to the Assembly from the new 17th Legislative District in Middlesex and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

counties. Hamilton served three terms, becoming assistant majority leader in 1974 and majority leader for the 1976 session. He was named

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

in January 1977, following the election of incumbent Joseph A. LeFante to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

. Hamilton's term as Speaker ended after his election to the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...

, replacing

John A. Lynch Sr. John A. Lynch Sr. (March 10, 1908 – March 3, 1978) was an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey Senate for 22 years, where he represented the New Jersey's 17th legislative distric ...

, in 1977. In 1981, rather than run for reelection, he sought the Democratic nomination for

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 res ...

in that year's election. However his candidacy was hurt in its early stages when key Municipal Chairs in his home county of Middlesex declined to endorse him. He stayed in the race and finished tenth in a field of thirteen. When his Senate term ended in 1982, he was succeeded in the 17th District senate seat by

John A. Lynch Jr. John A. Lynch Jr. (born October 21, 1938) is an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party politician from New Jersey, who served in the New Jersey Senate from 1982 to 2002, where he represented the 17th Legislative District (New ...

and he returned to his New Brunswick law practice. He later became the city attorney of New Brunswick. Hamilton married Barbara Brown in 1958, and the couple had four children. He resided in New Brunswick until his death on October 10, 2019, at the age of 86.

References

Sharp, James Roger and Nancy Weatherly Sharp
''American Legislative Leaders in the Northeast, 1911-1994''
Greenwood Press, 2000.

External links

from

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations of ...

Interviews with William J. Hamilton, Jr. - Center on the American Governor, Eagleton Institute of Politics
, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, William J. 1932 births 2019 deaths Politicians from New Brunswick, New Jersey Military personnel from New Jersey United States Navy sailors Rutgers University alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni New Jersey lawyers Democratic Party New Jersey state senators Speakers of the New Jersey General Assembly Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly 20th-century American lawyers