South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese Dies at 81

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ - Longtime South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese died Saturday morning after a brief illness, Township Manager Bernard Hvozdovic announced. He was 81.

Funeral arrangements have been made and they are as follows: The viewing will be Tuesday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Church, 10 Kingston Lane in Monmouth Junction (on the corner of Georges Road and Kingston Lane). The funeral will be Wednesday at 10 a.m. also at St. Cecilia's. Funeral services are being handled by the Crabiel Home for Funerals.

Mayor Gambatese was the longest serving mayor in the history of South Brunswick. He previously served as mayor of West Paterson (now renamed Woodland Park) and he and his wife originally moved to South Brunswick in 1992 after he retired from his job as an accountant. But once they moved into South Brunswick, he became active in municipal life and the day-to-day running of the growing Township. South Brunswick's population swelled in the years that Gambatese was mayor.

Mayor Gambatese will be remembered as a tireless advocate for the Township, South Brunswick Township police said in a Nixle alert. In the 20 years since he was elected to office, he worked diligently to improve the quality of life for the South Brunswick residents. As the chief ambassador for the Township he attracted hundreds of new businesses into the Township including Target, Best Buy and Coca-Cola, to name a few.

He was a strong advocate for preservation and open space. One of his greatest achievements as Mayor involved a five-year negotiation process where the State of New Jersey invested nearly $2.8 million in a 60-acre property that was once the historic Princeton Nursery site, which still features unique plants and historic buildings. This purchase was part of a larger 187-acre preservation partnership between the Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Program, Princeton University and South Brunswick Township.

He also worked to address infrastructure needs of the community by securing $11 million dollars in federal grants to study the widening of Rt. 1.

In 2015 he was elected into the New Jersey League of Municipalities Hall of Fame.

Mayor Gambatese is survived by his sons, Franc Jr. of West Windsor, N.J., and John Paul of South Brunswick; his daughters, MaryAnne Bross of Livingston, N.J., Rosemary Peng of Piscataway, N.J., and Christine Alencewicz of Baldwinsville, N.Y.; and 11 grandchildren. He is predeceased by his wife, Ellen.