Karl Weidel III (September 27, 1923 – January 31, 1997) was an American Republican Party politician from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, who served in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

from 1970 to 1986.

Biography

Weidel was born on September 27, 1923, in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

.''Fitzgerald's Legislative Manual, 1984''
p. 262. J.A. Fitzgerald, 1986. Accessed November 9, 2017. "Karl Weidel, Rep., Clinton - Assemblyman Weidel was born Sept. 27, 1923, in Trenton. He lives at One Charles Way, Clinton." His father, Karl Weidel, Jr., ran an insurance and real estate brokerage, established in 1915. He attended

Trenton Catholic High School Trenton Catholic High School was a Roman Catholic high school serving boys in ninth through twelfth grades located in the Chambersburg section of Trenton, in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school closed after the 1961-1962 ...

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, and

Rutgers Law School Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the three-year J.D. pr ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he joined the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and became a pilot. After the war, he entered the family business, taking over the insurance division in 1949. Weidel was a resident of Pennington,

Mercer County, New Jersey Mercer County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its county seat is Trenton, also the state capital, but also directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is included within the Federal Communications Commission's ...

. He became the first Republican in a generation elected to the Mercer County

Board of Chosen Freeholders In New Jersey, a Board of County Commissioners (until 2020 named the Board of Chosen Freeholders) is the elected county-wide government board in each of the state's 21 counties. In the five counties that have an elected county executive, the ...

in 1966. He was first elected to the

in 1969 to serve in the District 6A, represented the 14th Legislative District from 1974 to 1982, and the 23rd Legislative District from 1982 until his resignation from office. In the

he worked on

no-fault insurance In its broadest sense, no-fault insurance is any type of insurance contract under which the insured party is indemnified by their own insurance company for losses, regardless of the source of the cause of loss. In this sense, it is similar to f ...

reform and also supported the "

right-to-die The right to die is a concept rooted in the belief that individuals have the Self-ownership, autonomy to make fundamental decisions about their own lives, including the choice to Suicide, end them or undergo voluntary euthanasia, central to the b ...

" movement during the

Karen Ann Quinlan case ''In re Quinlan'' (70 N.J. 10, 355 A.2d 647 (NJ 1976)) was a landmark 1975 court case in the United States in which the parents of a woman who was kept alive by artificial means were allowed to order her removal from artificial ventilation. Kar ...

. Weidel resigned from the Assembly in 1986 to take a position as executive director of the Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund in the New Jersey Department of Insurance. His vacant seat was filled by C. Richard Kamin. Weidel retired from state government in 1990. On January 31, 1997, Weidel, at the age of 73 and in worsening health, committed suicide by jumping from the top of a Trenton parking garage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weidel, Karl 1923 births 1997 deaths American politicians who died by suicide Duke University alumni Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly County commissioners in New Jersey People from Pennington, New Jersey Politicians from Trenton, New Jersey Rutgers School of Law–Newark alumni Suicides in New Jersey Trenton Catholic High School alumni Suicides by jumping in the United States United States Navy pilots of World War II 20th-century members of the New Jersey Legislature