Raymond H. "Ray" Bateman (October 29, 1927 – June 25, 2016) was an American politician who represented Somerset County in the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as 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, ...

in the 1960s and 1970s and was the Republican candidate for

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official re ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrati ...

. He was the father of Christopher Bateman, who later occupied the same Senate district he held.

Biography

Early life, education and military service

Bateman was born on October 29, 1927, in

Somerville, New Jersey Somerville is a borough and the county seat of Somerset County, New Jersey, United States.New Jer ...

and was a lifelong resident of Somerset County, where he graduated from Somerville High School in 1945. In 1946, he joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

and was stationed at the Eighth Army headquarters in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of ...

during the

Occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the victorious Allies of World War II from the 1945 surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of the war until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect in 1952. The occupation, led by the United States ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

."Somerville"
''Courier News'', Plainfield, New Jersey, March 21, 1947, page 22. In 1947, he was promoted to staff sergeant. After military service, he attended

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the c ...

, where he graduated in 1950, and attended the graduate program at the

Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...

.''Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey''
J.A. Fitzgerald, 1977.

Political career

He served as executive director of the Republican State Committee from 1954 to 1958. He entered 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 ...

in November 1958, serving as the lone Assemblyman from Somerset County (at the time, Assembly districts were apportioned by counties' populations) going on to serve as assistant majority leader in 1964 and majority leader in 1965. Bateman sponsored the 1962 legislation that established New Jersey's county-based

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...

system. He was elected to the

in 1967 and was reelected in 1971 from the 8th Legislative District which consisted of all of Somerset County. He served as assistant majority leader in 1968, majority leader in 1969, and Senate president and acting governor in 1970–1972. In 1973, following the reconfiguration of all legislative districts, he was elected to serve in the Senate from the 16th District consisting of most of Somerset County and portions of

Hunterdon Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 128,947, making it the state's 18th-most populous county,Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manit ...

counties. In 1977 Bateman won the Republican primary for

over

Thomas Kean Thomas Howard Kean ( ; born April 21, 1935) is an American businessman, academic administrator and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Kean served as the 48th governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990. Following his tenure as governor, ...

and two other candidates, but he lost in the general election to

Brendan Byrne Brendan Thomas Byrne (April 1, 1924 – January 4, 2018) was an American politician, statesman, and prosecutor, serving as the 47th governor of New Jersey from 1974 to 1982. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrne started his career as a privat ...

by a margin of 1,184,564 to 888,880 votes. Brendan T. Byrne Archive: Interview with Raymond H. Bateman

Eagleton Institute of Politics The Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University was established in 1956 with an endowment from Florence Peshine Eagleton (1870–1953), and it focuses on state and national politics through education and public service. Ruth Mandel served ...

, January 11, 2007. Accessed March 18, 2008. Bateman served as chairman of the

New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) is an independent authority established by the State of New Jersey in 1971 to oversee the Meadowlands Sports Complex, but which now contains the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, a regulator ...

. He resigned after a conflict with

Donald DiFrancesco Donald Thomas DiFrancesco (born November 20, 1944) is a retired American politician who served as the 51st governor of New Jersey from 2001 to 2002. He succeeded Christine Todd Whitman after her resignation to become Administrator of the Enviro ...

in 2001 over construction of a new arena for the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The club was founded as the Kans ...

in Newark and plans for the proposed Xanadu complex.

Personal life

He was married to Joan Speer Bateman until her death in 2003. They had five children: Caren, Raymond Jr. (a luger in the

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Syst ...

and

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 Southeast As ...

Olympics, died 1990), Christopher, Michael, and Joan Anne. He died on June 25, 2016, at Morristown Memorial Hospital after a shoulder break and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

. He is buried at the North Branch Reformed Church cemetery.

References

External links