Former State Sen. and East Brunswick Mayor Jack Sinagra died Aug. 26 at the age of 63.
Sinagra was elected to the East Brunswick Township Council in 1987 and later served as a moderate Republican mayor from 1989 to 1991. During his mayoral tenure, East Brunswick became the first municipality in New Jersey to ban cigarette vending machines.
In 1991, he was elected to the New Jersey State Senate after defeating Democrat Harry Pozycki. He won re-election in 1993 and again in 1997, serving the Senate as chair of the Health Committee and the Commerce Committee.
During his senatorial tenure, Sinagra sponsored a bill that would ban so-called double-dipping, a practice in which elected officials serve in more than one elected position simultaneously. The bill passed in 1992.
He also sponsored legislation that was passed in 1998 requiring all private and public playgrounds to install shock-absorbing material and replace all wood-and-metal swing seats with plastic.
Sinagra was nominated by Acting New Jersey Gov. Donald DiFrancesco to replace Lewis Eisenberg as chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in September 2001.
The Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners elected him to that position in December 2001.
He also worked as president of Turtle & Hughes Inc., an electrical and industrial supplies distributor based in Linden.
“Sen. Sinagra will be missed and fondly remembered as a devoted public servant who gave much of himself to help better the lives of all in New Jersey,” state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Union) said in a statement.
The cause of Sinagra’s death was not publicly disclosed.
Contact Thomas Castles at [email protected].