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NEW JERSEY (WPVI) — New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver is set to be laid to rest on Saturday.
Oliver passed away on August 1 after suffering a medical emergency.
The funeral will be the end of a three-day celebration of life held in her honor.
Reverend Al Sharpton will deliver the eulogy at Oliver’s funeral, which will be held at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart.
The service begins at 10 a.m.
Oliver was serving as acting governor while Governor Phil Murphy and his family were on vacation in Italy when she died.
Her cause of death has not been released.
You can watch Oliver’s funeral here at 6abc.com.
Murphy ordered flags to be flown at half-staff for a month and commissioned a portrait of her that he has said would hang in the statehouse.
In addition to serving as Murphy’s top deputy, stepping in while he was out of the state, Oliver also oversaw the Department of Community Affairs, which coordinates state aid to towns and cities and supervises code enforcement.
Oliver served in the Assembly, where she was elected speaker in 2010. She served in that role until 2014, returning to the back benches when Murphy tapped her to be his running mate in 2017. They won the election that year and were reelected together in 2021.
She began her legislative career in 2003, when she won an Assembly seat in native Essex County. Before that she served on the Essex County board of chosen freeholders from 1996 to 1999.
Born and raised in Newark, she earned a sociology degree from Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University and had a master’s degree in community organization from Columbia University.
Speaking from his office last week, Murphy remembered her as an advocate for affordable housing and for urban communities across the state, including Atlantic City, where she was the de facto final decision maker for some of the city’s most consequential decisions. A law passed under Republican Gov. Chris Christie gave control over much of the city’s major decisions to the state.
As acting governor she signed a bill in 2021 that established a pilot program to overhaul the state’s juvenile justice system in four cities and which aimed to reintegrate young people into their communities. Another measure she signed in 2021 revived a defunct fund for “urban enterprise zones” aimed driving economic development in cities through lower sales tax rates.
The state constitution requires Murphy to name a successor within 45 days of the vacancy. He so far has not nominated anyone.
Senate President Nicholas Scutari will serve as acting governor if Murphy leaves the state or is incapacitated in the interim.
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