Retired Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. Inducted to Rutgers’ Board of Governors

February 18, 2010

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Joseph J. Roberts Jr., retired speaker of the state General Assembly, was inducted as a public member of the Board of Governors of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, at today’s board meeting.

Roberts, from Camden, was nominated by former Gov. Jon S. Corzine in January and confirmed by the state Senate. His term will expire in 2012. The Board of Governors, Rutgers’ highest governing body, has 11 members.

Photo:Joseph J. Roberts Jr.

A Democrat, Roberts won a special election to the Assembly in 1987 to complete the unexpired term of the late Francis J. Gorman. He was re-elected 11 times and was majority leader from 2002 to 2006, when he became speaker until his retirement in January after a 22-year legislative career.

As the Assembly’s presiding officer, Roberts led efforts for an unprecedented special legislative session to confront the issues of rising property taxes. He authored the CORE Reform law that promotes the sharing and consolidation of services among municipalities and school districts. He also wrote a law overhauling New Jersey’s affordable housing landscape to help low- and middle-income working families to purchase homes. The law eliminated a practice that allowed suburban towns to forgo their affordable housing obligations.