Maureen Black Ogden (November 1, 1928 – August 17, 2022) was an American Republican Party politician who served seven terms 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 ...

between 1982 and 1996. She represented the 22nd Legislative District for five terms until 1992 and then was shifted to the 21st Legislative District (in redistricting following 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 ...

) where she served two terms of office.

Early life

Ogden was born in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada, in 1928 and emigrated to the United States in 1930 with her family. Ogden attended the private all-girls

Kent Place School Kent Place School is an independent, college-preparatory, private all girls' day school in Summit, New Jersey, with a Lower School (coed preschool and pre-k, all girls K-5), Middle School (grades 6-8) and Upper School (grades 9-12). It was es ...

in Summit, New Jersey. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

in 1950 and earned a Master of Arts from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1963.

Career

Ogden served as deputy mayor of

Millburn, New Jersey Millburn is a suburban Township (New Jersey), township in southwestern Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, within the U.S. state of New Jersey, and part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's ...

from 1976 to 1979 and was its mayor from 1979 to 1981.Manuscript Group 1379, Maureen B. Ogden (b. 1928), N.J. Assemblywoman
,

New Jersey Historical Society The New Jersey Historical Society is a historical society and museum located in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The Historical Society is housed in the former headquarters of the Essex Club. It has two floors of exhibition spac ...

. Accessed July 21, 2010. Ogden was elected to the

to represent the 22nd District in 1981 with running mate

Bob Franks Robert Douglas Franks (September 21, 1951 – April 9, 2010) was an American Republican politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New Jersey. Early life Franks was born on September 21, 1951, in Hackensack, New Jersey, the son of No ...

and the two were re-elected to four terms of office together in 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989. She was redistricted to the 21st District following the results of the 1990 Census, and was elected to two terms there with running mate

Monroe Jay Lustbader Monroe Jay Lustbader (January 15, 1931 – March 16, 1996) was an American Republican Party politician who was elected to three terms in the New Jersey General Assembly, serving in office from 1992 until his death, where he represented the 21s ...

. She served in the Assembly as Assistant Minority Whip from 1982 to 1985. During her tenure in the Assembly, she served as Chair of the Committee on Conservation, Energy and Natural Resources, Chair of the Committee on Arts, Tourism, and Cultural Affairs, as Vice Chair of the Financial Institutions Committee and the Drug Abuse Committee, and as a member of the Health Committee, the Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, the

New Jersey State Council on the Arts The New Jersey State Council on the Arts was founded in 1966 to support artistic activities in the state of New Jersey. It is funded by the New Jersey State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the ...

and on the State Government Committee. In 1992, Ogden co-sponsored a bill with Robert C. Shinn, Jr. that would make New Jersey the first state in the nation to require its entire fleet of motor vehicles to use remanufactured or

retread Retread (also known as recap or remold) is a re-manufacturing process for tires that replace the tread on worn tires. Retreading is applied to casings of spent tires that have been inspected and repaired. It preserves about 90% of the material ...

tires, which Ogden cited as a way to keep tires out of the waste stream. Legislation supported by Ogden in 1994 created a $350 million fund that would be used to preserve open space, with the money going to acquire open space and for

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

and

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

. That same year, Ogden was chief sponsor of a bill in the General Assembly that would give adoptees the opportunity to get access to their original birth certificates. Ogden's original opinion had been to limit such access out of fear that adoptive parents would lose their children if they found out that they had been adopted, but changed her mind after realizing "that the basic rights of the little babies were not being considered". As chair of the Governor's Council on New Jersey Outdoors in 1998, Ogden targeted raising $1 billion over the subsequent decade to be used to preserve of farmland and open space.

Personal life

She was married to Bob Ogden, who died in 2010, and they had three children, including former

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

councilman, Henry Ogden. Ogden died on August 17, 2022, at the age of 93.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ogden, Maureen 1928 births 2022 deaths Canadian emigrants to the United States Columbia University alumni Kent Place School alumni Mayors of places in New Jersey People from Millburn, New Jersey Politicians from Morris County, New Jersey Politicians from Vancouver Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Smith College alumni Women state legislators in New Jersey 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century mayors of places in New Jersey 21st-century American women 20th-century members of the New Jersey Legislature