U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, who has represented New Jersey by serving five terms in the Senate since 1982, passed away due to complications from viral pneumonia in the early hours of June 3 at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
He was 89 years old.
Lautenberg’s office posted news of his passing, describing him as a longtime leader on environmental protection, transportation and protecting public health. The Democratic senator’s career highlights, according to the announcement, include:
Passing the law that banned smoking on airplanes;
Authoring the law that prevented domestic abusers from possessing guns;
Writing landmark drunken-driving laws, including the nationwide 0.08 blood alcohol standard and raising the minimum drinking age to 21;
Co-writing the new GI Bill;
Authoring the “Toxic Right to Know” law to empower the public to know what pollutants are being released into their neighborhood; and
Writing the law to create the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park.
After Lautenberg cast his 9,000th vote in December 2011, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid proclaimed on the Senate floor that “Frank Lautenberg has been one of the most productive senators in the history of this country.”
On Feb. 15, Lautenberg announced that he would not seek a sixth term in the Senate.
At his announcement in his hometown of Paterson, he set out an agenda for the remaining two years of his term, which included reforming U.S. chemical safety laws, improving gun safety laws, and providing federal resources for New Jersey to rebuild from superstorm Sandy.
Lautenberg most recently announced a bipartisan breakthrough on modernizing the Toxic Substances Control Act.
His legislation to ban high-capacity ammunition magazines also received a vote in the Senate earlier this year.
Lautenberg was born the son of immigrants and grew up poor in Paterson. He enlisted in the military at age 18 and served in the Army in Europe during World War II. Upon returning home, he graduated from Columbia University with the help of the GI Bill.
He joined with two boyhood friends to found Automatic Data Processing (ADP), which today employees 57,000 people worldwide and 4,500 in New Jersey. He left the business world to pursue a career in public service.
Lautenberg was the last World War II veteran serving in the U.S. Senate and held the record for the number of votes cast by a New Jersey senator.
Lautenberg is survived by his wife, Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg; six children and their spouses, Ellen Lautenberg and Doug Hendel, Nan and Joe Morgart, Josh and Christina Lautenberg, Lisa and Doug Birer, Danielle Englebardt and Stuart Katzoff, Lara Englebardt Metz and Corey Metz; and 13 grandchildren.