By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – Eugene Golub, 76, a former member of the Township Committee in Freehold Township, died on Feb. 20.
Golub joined the committee in 1996 and was re-elected to multiple three-year terms. He was a professor of civil engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
As a member of the governing body through 2014, Golub focused on obtaining the state aid he maintained was owed to Freehold Township’s schools.
Environmental issues were also a priority for Golub. He served on the New Jersey Water Supply Advisory Council, and as the liaison to the Lake Topanemus Commission and the Freehold Township Environmental Commission.
Committeeman David Salkin served with Golub on the governing body for more than a decade. He offered his thoughts on Golub’s passing.
“Gene worked with me when I chaired the Freehold Township Open Space Committee and together with a great team of volunteers, we wrote what became the first state approved open space master plan in New Jersey.
“This plan became the blueprint for our open space preservation, and saw Freehold Township grow from 3,500 acres to now over 10,000 acres of preserved open space. We shared this with communities all over New Jersey and that has had a permanent positive impact on our state,” Salkin said.
“Another area Gene was passionate about was education. … One of the huge problems Freehold Township faces is the inequity of the state’s funding formula. At that time, Gene worked with the late Ray Kershaw, another brilliant mathematician on the Township Committee, to examine the state’s funding formula.
“After a day in Trenton they reported back with emotions that mixed anger with pure amusement. I remember Gene saying something like, ‘You don’t understand, Ray and I could teach math so complicated only a handful of people would understand it, and yet, we examined the state’s funding formula and couldn’t make any sense out of it. When we questioned the Department of Education about the problems in their formula, they couldn’t explain it either!’
“Generally speaking, Gene was a quiet, thoughtful man. Committee discussion would go around the table and Gene would often listen for a while without speaking, then nod and smirk, and come up with an idea or start a new discussion about the issue.
“He could always be counted on for wisdom and an even-handed response to issues. … I miss our pre-meeting dinners, where we would discuss world history, geo-politics, philosophy and policy. It was always a pleasure engaging in conversations with someone so well-read and brilliant,” Salkin said.
According to an obituary, Golub was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved to Freehold Township in 1970.
He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Arlene; his children, Brian Golub and his wife, Linda, of Freehold Township, Seth Golub and his wife, Caron, of Indialantic, Fla., and Kimberly Urban and her husband, Robert, of Freehold; five grandchildren; his brother, Harvey, and his wife, Roberta, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; and several nieces and nephews.