Alan J. Karcher (May 19, 1943 – July 26, 1999) was an American Democratic Party politician whose highest office 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 f ...

. He was a member of the Assembly from 1974 to 1990 and was a one-time candidate for 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 r ...

.Kerr, Peter
"Noted Maverick Fights To Be Jersey Governor"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', March 13, 1989. Accessed October 12, 2007.

Biography

Politics, and service in the state Assembly, was a family tradition for Alan Karcher. His father, Joseph T. Karcher, served in the Assembly from 1930 to 1933 and his great uncle, John J. Quaid, served from 1898 to 1900. Karcher was born in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

in 1943. He graduated from

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 ...

in 1964 and from Rutgers School of Law–Newark in 1967.Ravo, Nick
"Alan Karcher, 56, Ex-Trenton Speaker, Dies"
''

'', July 28, 1999. Accessed October 12, 2007. He was admitted to the bar associations in New Jersey and Washington D.C. in the same year. He was later admitted to the Florida bar. In addition to his law degree, Mr. Karcher earned a master's degree in liberal studies from the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSS ...

in New York City. Between 1967 and 1969, he served Governor

Richard J. Hughes Richard Joseph Hughes (August 10, 1909December 7, 1992) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge. A Democrat, he served as the 45th governor of New Jersey from 1962 to 1970, and as Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1973 to ...

as assistant counsel and secretary to the governor. After leaving Gov. Hughes' staff, Mr. Karcher went into private legal practice, which continued during his political career. Karcher represented the 19th Legislative District, based in Middlesex County, for 17 years. He succeeded Christopher Jackman as speaker of the Assembly, serving from 1982 to 1985 during an activist Legislature. He played a key role in the adoption of the state's first Uniform Penal code, which provided guidelines for priority sentences. He also fought battles for senior citizens, tax reform, workers' rights, environmental cleanup, job creation and additional support for education and the arts. In 1982, he argued against the restoration of the death penalty and in favor of using the resources that would go into enforcing the death penalty for law-enforcement measures. Karcher was a delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

in both

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

. After leaving elected office in 1990, Karcher continued in his law practice and remained active in partisan politics, mainly as Democratic chair of Mercer County, and became a political mentor to many budding politicians at the local, county and state levels. In 1998, Karcher published his book, ''New Jersey's Multiple Municipal Madness,'' in which he advocated that many of the state's 566 municipalities be eliminated, or at least combined. Karcher was a resident of Princeton Borough at the time of his death on July 26, 1999. Alan Karcher's daughter,

Ellen Karcher Ellen Karcher (born February 28, 1964) is an American Democratic Party politician, who served in the New Jersey State Senate from 2004 until 2008, where she represented the 12th Legislative District. Career In the 2007 general election, Karcher ...

, was elected in 2003 to represent a Monmouth County district in 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, ...

, making her the fourth generation of Karcher's family to serve in 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karcher, Alan 1943 births 1999 deaths New Jersey lawyers Politicians from New Brunswick, New Jersey People from Princeton, New Jersey Rutgers School of Law–Newark alumni Rutgers University alumni Speakers of the New Jersey General Assembly Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly The New School alumni 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians