Jerome M. Epstein (born March 15, 1937) is an American politician who served 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, ...

as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

from 1972 to 1974 and later went to federal prison for pirating millions of dollars worth of fuel oil. 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 ...

, Epstein attended the

Wardlaw-Hartridge School The Wardlaw+Hartridge School (commonly referred to as Wardlaw or W+H) is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational day school located in Edison, New Jersey, United States, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. It is divided ...

and 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 1958. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was an executive with his family's fuel oil and gasoline distribution company. He was the Chairman of the Union County Health Board, and was a Legislative Aide to State Senator Nelson Stamler.Fitzgerald, Thoms F
''Fitzgerald's Legislative Manual, State of New Jersey, 1971''
p. 379. J.A. Fitzgerald, 1971. Accessed November 12, 2017. "JEROME M. EPSTEIN (Rep., Scotch Plains) – Senator Epstein was born in New Brunswick on March 15, 1987. He attended Wardlaw School, Plainfield, and graduated at Rutgers University in 1958 with a B.A. degree." A resident of Scotch Plains, Epstein was elected to the Union County

Board of Chosen Freeholders In New Jersey, a Board of County Commissioners (until 2020 named the Board of Chosen Freeholders) is the elected county-wide government board in each of the state's 21 counties. In the five counties that have an elected county executive, the ...

in 1967 and served one term. In 1971, he was elected to the State Senate. He ran with two incumbent GOP Senators,

Matthew John Rinaldo Matthew John "Matt" Rinaldo (September 1, 1931 – October 13, 2008) was an American Republican Party politician who represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives for ten terms, serving in the 12th congressional district ...

and

Frank X. McDermott Francis "Frank" X. McDermott (October 15, 1924 – December 15, 2011) was an American Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature. Biography McDermott was born in New York ...

for the open seat of Nicholas LaCorte (R-Union), who had resigned to become a Judge. Epstein defeated Carmine J. Liotta of Elizabeth, an attorney for the New Jersey Office of Consumer Protection, by just 400 votes, 68,531 to 68,131. In 1972, Epstein wanted Leslie Glick, an ex-Assistant Union County Prosecutor, to get a Superior Court Judgeship, but Governor

William Cahill William Cahill may refer to: *William T. Cahill William Thomas Cahill (June 25, 1912July 1, 1996) was an American politician, lawyer, and academic who served as the 46th governor of New Jersey from 1970 to 1974. A Republican, Cahill previously ...

instead nominated Stephen Bercik, a former Mayor of Elizabeth. Epstein escalated his feud with Cahill by using Senatorial Courtesy to block the reappointment of former New York Stock Exchange Chairman James C. Kellogg III for reappointment as a Commissioner of the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...

. Feuds with Cahill and with local Republican leaders in Union County caused Epstein to lose party support in his bid for re-election to a second term in 1973. He lost the Republican primary to Assemblyman Peter McDonough, 7,214 (60.37%) to 4,735 (39.63%). In 1977, Epstein was sentenced to nine years in a federal prison after his conviction on charges that he pirated $4 million worth of fuel oil from tanks belonging to

Exxon ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 3 ...

, systematically rigging gauges on a rental oil barge over several years to take 4,000 barrels of oil but only pay for 2,000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, Jerome 1937 births Living people County commissioners in New Jersey Republican Party New Jersey state senators United States Marines Rutgers University alumni New Jersey politicians convicted of crimes People from Scotch Plains, New Jersey Politicians from New Brunswick, New Jersey Politicians from Union County, New Jersey Wardlaw-Hartridge School alumni