N.J. Assemb. Alex DeCroce dies at 75

Alex DeCroce, the highest-ranking Republican in the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature and a mentor to Gov. Chris Christie, collapsed and died Monday night at the Statehouse. He was 75.

DeCroce, the Assembly minority leader who represented Morris County for 23 years, was found in a first-floor men's bathroom after lawmakers finished their final voting session of the legislative year. A cause of death hasn't been issued, State Police Capt. Frank Davis said Tuesday.

Christie, a first-term Republican who said DeCroce helped him break into elective politics on Morris County's governing board, postponed his annual State of the State speech after his mentor's death. Lawmakers elected in November were sworn in at scaled-back ceremonies, after which Christie addressed them in the Assembly chamber, with DeCroce's widow, Betty Lou, and other family seated before him.

"Alex was a fighter," Christie said. "He knew how to win and lose in this arena gracefully. He knew how to wage a good battle, but unlike many in this business today, waging that good battle did not prevent Alex from inviting you out, after the battle was waged, for a steak and a drink. He was a representative of an era that is slipping away."

Assemb. Jay Webber, a Republican from Morris Plains, addressed the crowd before Christie arrived and called DeCroce "my mentor and running mate."

"Assemblyman DeCroce had many gifts," Webber said. "Perhaps most compelling were his generosity, his compassion, his good old-fashioned political instincts."

First appointed to the Assembly to fill a vacancy in January 1989, DeCroce was elected to a full term that November, and won the leadership post in 2003. Assemb. John Wisniewski, chairman of the Democratic State Committee, said DeCroce was the longest-serving member of the Assembly.

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At the start of his legislative career, DeCroce successfully sponsored a proposal for a constitutional amendment, ratified by voters in 1991, to update crime victims' rights, said Brigid Harrison, a professor of politics and law at Montclair State University. Democrats at the time controlled the legislature and the governor's office.

In the most recent legislative session, DeCroce was sponsor of a bill to update victims' rights.

Born June 10, 1936, in Morristown, DeCroce graduated from Boonton High School and attended Seton Hall University in South Orange. He married the former Betty Lou Bisson in 1994, according to the biography.

DeCroce was a member of Morris County's governing body from 1984 to 1989. He also served on the county's elections and taxations boards, and as chairman of the County College of Morris board of trustees.

Christie called DeCroce "a close family friend and a mentor for almost 20 years." He read from a statement that DeCroce had planned to deliver today to the Assembly, calling for bipartisan cooperation.

"We will solve more problems by working together than apart," Christie said as he read DeCroce's statement. "We owe our constituents nothing less."