Marion Crecco (January 25, 1930 – November 28, 2015) was an American Republican Party politician, 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 1986 to 2002, where she represented the 30th Legislative District (1986–1992) and then the 34th Legislative District (1992–2002) following redistricting in the wake of the

1990 United States census The 1990 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 248,709,873, an increase of 9.8 percent over the 226,545,805 persons enumerated during the 1980 census. Approximatel ...

Biography

Crecco was born on January 25, 1930, to Joan and Jasper LaBruzzo of Newark. She attended

Newark Arts High School Newark Arts High School is a four-year magnet public high school, serving students in Ninth through twelfth grades in Newark, in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the Newark Public Schools. The school is lo ...

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

majoring in Marketing and

Montclair State College Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public un ...

where she majored in Liberal Arts. She worked professionally as president and accounting executive of Marion Crecco Associates, an advertising agency in her residence of Bloomfield. At the agency, she became the first woman to represent the Thomas Publishing Company as an agent and later as sales manager. Crecco was married to John Crecco, a chemist who also served as a Bloomfield councilman and mayor. Crecco had two daughters in addition to four grandchildren. Later in life, she and John moved to

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

. Crecco died on November 28, 2015.

Political career

Crecco was a long-time chair of the Bloomfield Republican Party Committee. She served as an alternate delegate to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...

s in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, and as a delegate to the

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

and

1996 Republican National Convention The 1996 Republican National Convention convened at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, from August 12 to August 15, 1996. The convention nominated Senator Bob Dole from Kansas, for president and former representative and ...

s.Assemblywoman Marion Crecco

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and ...

, backed up by the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

as of February 25, 1998. Accessed June 2, 2010. Crecco was first elected to the General Assembly from the 30th District with running mate

John V. Kelly John Vincent Kelly Sr. (July 11, 1926 – October 30, 2009) was an American Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician who served as Mayor of Nutley, New Jersey, and served nine terms in the New Jersey General Assembly, bef ...

in the Kean landslide election of 1985 defeating both Democratic Party

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

s Steve Adubato and Buddy Fortunato. She and Kelly were easily re-elected in 1987 and 1989 in the district consisting of northern Essex County municipalities. After redistricting following the 1990 Census, Crecco won five elections in the 34th Legislative District in 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999, serving together with Republican Gerald H. Zecker for all five terms in the Essex and

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 16th-most-populous municipality,abstinence Abstinence is the practice of self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol (drug), ...

as the only reliable means of preventing the spread of

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, stating that without this approach "we are allowing our children to play Russian roulette". Building on an experience in which she was unable to connect with her niece following her sister's death, Crecco introduced legislation in September 1996 that would grant aunts and uncles visitation rights, in addition to the grandparents and siblings already covered for unsupervised visitations under previous law passed in 1993.DeMasters, Karen
"A Loss in the Family Led to a Bill on Visiting"
''The New York Times'', September 22, 1996. Accessed June 2, 2010. Following the 2001 apportionment which moved her residence of Bloomfield to the western Newark-centered 28th Legislative District, she ran for the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate is the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232,225 (2020 figure ...

in 2001 against incumbent Democrat

Ronald Rice Ronald Rice may refer to: * Ronald L. Rice (1945–2023), American politician in the New Jersey State Senate * Ronald C. Rice (born 1968), his son, American politician in Newark, New Jersey * Ron Rice (Charles Ronald Rice, 1935–1964) was an Am ...

. A lawsuit filed by then-34th District Senator Norman M. Robertson alleged that the commission charged with drawing the Legislative districts worked to protect incumbent

racial minority The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

members of the

; the suit, in part, cited Crecco's hometown shift to the 28th District whose Senate seat was held by Rice, an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

. Ultimately, Crecco lost to Rice by a 69.4%-29.6% margin with an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate taking 1.0% of the vote. Following her loss, she became the chair of the John I. Crecco Foundation, a non-profit organization named for her husband, which raises money for various local hospitals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crecco, Marion 1930 births 2015 deaths Art Students League of New York alumni Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Montclair State University alumni Newark Arts High School alumni People from Bloomfield, New Jersey Politicians from Newark, New Jersey People from Verona, New Jersey Seton Hall University alumni Women state legislators in New Jersey 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century members of the New Jersey Legislature 20th-century members of the New Jersey Legislature