Former State Sen. C. Robert Sarcone (R-Newark), the former Minority Leader of the New Jersey State Assembly and a candidate for the GOP nomination for Governor in 1977, died on January 12.  He was 94. A talented trial lawyer and charismatic speaker, Sarcone began his political career in Newark’s North Ward and served as an assistant prosecutor in Essex County and as a deputy state attorney general.

He was elected to the State Assembly in 1959, at age 34, at a time when Essex County had twelve Assembly seats – all elected at-large in countywide elections. Sarcone polled the second-highest number of votes in his first bid for public office.  Republicans won seven seats that year and Democrats took five in Gov. Robert Meyner’s second mid-term election.