Sheila Oliver

By Wendy Greenberg

Sheila Oliver, lieutenant governor of New Jersey, died on Tuesday, August 1, her family announced. A statement on Gov. Phil Murphy’s website calls her a “trailblazer” and someone who “brought a unique and invaluable perspective to our public policy discourse and served as an inspiration to millions of women and girls everywhere, especially young women of color.” She was 71.

Murphy is out of the country, and Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union County) is acting governor, according to the rules of the state constitution. Oliver had been serving as acting governor.

Oliver, of East Orange, had been the state’s lieutenant governor since 2018, and served as the head of the Department of Community Affairs. In 2010 she became the first African American woman to serve as speaker of the New Jersey Assembly in the state’s history.

New Jersey politicians began to pay tribute to Oliver on Tuesday afternoon.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), called her a dedicated public servant.  “Lt. Governor Oliver’s legacy of service and devotion to the people of New Jersey will never be forgotten,” he said in a statement.

“She spent 27 years in public office, where she fought tirelessly for social justice, affordable housing, and economic opportunity for New Jerseyans, and especially for communities too often left out and left without a voice. I was fortunate enough to have benefited from Sheila’s leadership and advocacy throughout my career as mayor of Newark, where she was born and raised, and again as U.S. senator. I will miss her and her inspiring leadership and yet her legacy will live on for countless generations to come.”

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) in a statement recalled that Oliver delivered a keynote address at a Women of Distinction awards ceremony in 2018. “This is how I will choose to remember Lieutenant Governor Oliver: as a fighter, as a reformer, and as a committed leader for a better tomorrow in our state,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12) said she was devastated by the news. “I’ve been blessed to know and work with Sheila for many decades, dating back to my time in the Executive Branch and her work with the Newark Coalition for Low Income Housing,” Watson Coleman said in a statement. “She was a fierce advocate for the economically disadvantaged, for equal opportunities, and was one of the finest examples of a public servant our state has seen.

“Her legacy goes beyond her leadership as lieutenant governor, her speakership, or her role as commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs. Her greatest legacy exists in the communities she fought for, her instrumental role in raising the state’s minimum wage, the women’s health services she championed to fund, and the affordable housing she advocated for. Generations of New Jerseyans will benefit from her humanity and lifetime of public service.”

No cause of death was disclosed at press time.