Obituary of Henry P. McNamara

Former State Senator, Henry P. McNamara, age 83, died Monday, August 27, 2018. Hank was born December 9, 1934 in Passaic, NJ, the son of Joseph and Julia (Connelly) McNamara, who both immigrated from Ireland. Hank attended the Passaic public schools and graduated from Seton Hall University in 1956 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classical Language and served six years in the Army National Guard of New Jersey. He became a high school teacher in Paterson and to help pay the bills for his young and growing family, he worked a second job at a car dealership. Within several years he became the owner of that dealership, Wyckoff Ford. As a young car dealer, he was elected to represent the Bergen County Ford Dealers, eventually being elected to represent dealers nationally and in 1976 became the Vice­ Chairman of the National Ford Dealers Council. He negotiated with Henry Ford 2d, Chairman and CEO, and Lee lacocca, President and COO of the Ford Motor Company representing nearly 5,500 Ford dealers. Hank's experience representing the "little guy" resulted in  his  passion  for  public  service.  He was first elected to the Wyckoff Township Committee in 1976 after suing the Township over its Sewer Assessments. He went on to serve as Mayor in 1979, served as a Bergen County Freeholder from 1984 -1986, and was elected to the New Jersey Senate, representing the 40th district in 1985. Hank served 23 years in the Senate and had many legislative accomplishments. He became Chairman of the Energy and Environment Committee in 1992 and served as Chair or ranking minority member of that Committee until his retirement. As Chairman, Hank had remarkable accomplishments, taking on the toughest issues, especially in transforming the State's hazardous waste cleanup program into a national model. He sponsored and enacted two key reform measures, the "Industrial Site Recovery Act" in 1993 and the Brownfield and Contaminated Site Remediation Act in 1996. Together, these laws led to the cleanup of thousands of polluted sites, protecting public health, restoring the  environment,  and returning these previously abandoned properties to economic use. He also sponsored and passed the Underground Storage Tank Finance Act to make sure homeowners and small businesses got financial help with their leaking underground storage tanks. He sponsored the law that established New Jersey's Open Space Trust fund, to set aside one million acres of New Jersey open space and to preserve and protect Sterling Forest. Hank was not only endorsed by the Sierra Club for pro-environment leadership but also named a “Watchdog for Tax Payers” by Citizens Against Government Waste for his opposition to spend and tax government. Another of Hank's achievements was his almost single-handed effort to defeat the public referendum to build a baseball stadium in the Meadowlands with the intent to lure the New York Yankees to New Jersey. Taking on the establishments in both the Republican and Democratic parties, and the moneyed interests behind this project, Senator McNamara was steadfast in his opposition pointing out the financial risk to New Jersey taxpayers and the harm that would ensue. Making the defeat of the stadium referendum the cornerstone of his first re-election campaign in 1987, he was successful in its defeat, earning the admiration of supporters and foes alike for his tireless and principled effort.