Sheila Oliver, New Jersey’s Trailblazing Lieutenant Governor, Has Died

Sheila Y. Oliver, New Jersey’s lieutenant governor and the first Black woman to hold statewide elected office there, died on Tuesday after being suddenly rushed to the hospital the day before. She was 71.

Oliver, a Democrat and longtime resident of East Orange, New Jersey, was elected lieutenant governor in 2017 as Gov. Philip Murphy’s running mate after serving for 15 years in the Legislature. In 2010, she became the first Black woman to lead the predominantly male state Assembly.

Oliver had been serving as acting governor of New Jersey since Murphy and his family left over the weekend for a vacation in Italy, where they own a home.

But she was taken to the hospital Monday, according to state officials, who provided no additional details; leadership responsibilities then shifted to the Senate president, Nick Scutari. Murphy planned to return to New Jersey within the next few days, a spokesperson said.

Oliver’s family, in a statement released just after noon Tuesday, said that she would be remembered for her “tireless efforts to uplift the community.”

“We will remember her commitment to the people of New Jersey,” they said. “May her memory be a source of comfort and strength to all who knew her.”

A chorus of condolences soon flooded in.

“When I selected her to be my running mate in 2017, Lieutenant Governor Oliver was already a trailblazer in every sense of the word,” Murphy said in a statement.

“I knew then that her decades of public service made her the ideal partner for me,” he added. “It was the best decision I ever made.”

Oliver was born in Newark and frequently spoke of her formative years as a student in the public schools there.

LeRoy J. Jones Jr., the state’s Democratic Party chair, called her a friend and role model — “a true icon for representation, diversity and progress.”

“Sheila leaves behind a legacy of breaking barriers that will never be forgotten,” he said.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/01/nyregion/sheila-oliver-dead-nj-lieutenant-governor.html">The New York Times</a>.