Freeholder Gill Reflects on Lautenberg's Legacy and Warmth

One of Brendan Gill's most prominent memories of Frank Lautenberg involved a group of children. 

Senator Lautenberg, a strong supporter of Headstart programing, was meeting with children between 2 and 4 years old. A child named Julio came up and hugged his leg. Once the children saw Julio hug Lautenberg's leg, they thought they were all supposed to hug his leg and one at a time took turns to embrace the Senator

"Kids have a great sense of what kind of person you are," Gill said. "They recognized his warmth."

It was one teaching moment among many that Essex County Freeholder Gill said he had in the six years he spent working for Frank Lautenberg, a time he called one of the highlights of his career.

Gill worked for Lautenberg starting in 2007, first managing his reelection campaign before becoming a senior adviser and then state director for his senate offices in Newark and Camden.  Speaking with Patch, Gill emphasized the late Senator's connection to Essex County, noting Lautenberg's ties to Nutley, Belleville and Montclair. 

"He had a deep relationship to the areas I’ve had the opportunity to represent," Gill said. 

While his roots were local, Lautenberg's accomplishments were felt across the country. In an email, Gill pointed to several key accomplishments in Lautenberg's time with the Senate, including creating the domestic violence gun ban that denies guns to domestic abusers, banning smoking on airplanes, co-sponsoring the post-9/11 GI Bill and sponsoring legislation that opened the doors of America to oppressed people from around the world. 

Lautenberg was born to Polish and Russian immigrants in Paterson and worked at night and during weekends to support his family after they lost his father to cancer at a young age. Gill said those early roots informed Lautenberg's political career.

"He never lost his ability to connect back to the people. He never forgot where he was from or who he was," Gill said. 

After graduating Nutley High School, Frank Lautenberg served in the Army during World War II, and then attended Columbia Business School thanks to the GI Bill, where he graduated with a degree in economics and then went on to help start a successful business.

Senator Lautenberg’s unique brand of persistent leadership carried through in his bold efforts in Congress for over two decades, Gill said.  Senator Lautenberg has left us a strong legacy to live up to, and helped improve the quality of life of millions of Americans – in education, healthcare, taking care of our veterans and strengthening our transit infrastructure.  

"He had tremendous tenacity throughout his entire career," Gill said. "What I learned in particular from him, running in 2008, was pace, the idea of having a sense of urgency. That was really related to someone from his generation who always had that sense that every day you have to do your best because tomorrow’s not promised."

Gill described Lautenberg as an extremely hard worker in every sense of the word, but also someone with a great love and appreciation for food, people and jokes. 

"He was funny and loved his own jokes," Gill said. "He had a great love for food. He always knew a great restaurant."

He added: "He was a huge fan of Star Pizza over in Orange."http://startavern.net/

"As I extend my deepest condolences to Senator Lautenberg’s entire family, I would also like to thank them for sharing with us the unshakable presence of a man who cared so deeply about the people he proudly represented during his many years of public service for all Americans," Gill said.