Wayne Dumont

Wayne Dumont, Jr., was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on June 25, 1914, and died March 19, 1992. He played minor league baseball for the former St. Louis Browns. He moved to Phillipsburg in 1940, where he began practicing law.

Dumont graduated from Montclair Academy (now Montclair Kimberley Academy), then went on to Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He later received a degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School. Dumont, a Republican, was elected in 1951 to represent Warren County, New Jersey in the New Jersey Senate; and was re-elected in 1955, 1959 and 1963, during which time he served as Senate Majority Leader, Senate President and Acting Governor of New Jersey. He was responsible for sponsoring well over 500 bills during his legislative career including the state's first school aid bill and farmland preservation law.

After failing to win the Republican nomination for Governor in the 1957 and 1961 primaries, he was successful in 1965 with 50.4% against fellow State Senator Charles W. Sandman becoming the nominee against Governor Richard J. Hughes, and lost. He had made a campaign issue out of the pro-Marxist speeches of a Rutgers University professor, Eugene D. Genovese and supported the institution of a state sales tax.

Dumont returned to the State Senate in 1967 and remained until his retirement in July 1990. He won reelection in 1977, despite his opponents focus on Dumont's support for the state income tax. [Narvaez, Alfonso. [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30613F7345B167493CBA9178AD95F438785F9&scp=16&sq=mcgahn+senate&st=p "Easy Triumph by Governor Helps Democrats Keep Trenton Control"] , "The New York Times", November 9, 1977. Accessed August 18, 2008.]

The Warren County Administration Building in Belvidere, New Jersey is named after Dumont.

References

External links

* [http://www.state.nj.us/infobank/circular/eof57.htm]
* [http://www2.scc.rutgers.edu/ead/uarchives/teachinsb.html]