Mayor remembered as tireless public servant
Ralph P. Barone, longtime councilman and mayor, died Sept. 18
BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer

KATHY CHANG Former Democratic Mayor Dr. Ralph P. Barone, 85, died on Sept. 18 of heart failure at his residence in Whiting. Barone served as mayor from 1967 to 1971.

WOODBRIDGE - Former Dem-ocratic mayor Ralph P. Barone was a man ahead of his time, friends and former township officials say.

"He was a very bright man," said Joseph A. "JoJo" DeMarino, who served as mayor from 1980 to 1983. "His forte at the time was solid waste. He understood that we needed to separate our garbage at that time in the 1960s. But unfortunately, theoretically, he was ahead of his time."

Barone died of heart failure on Sept. 18 at his Whiting home in Manchester Township, and he left a long legacy of public service.

Barone served on the Board of Education during the time of major school construction, said DeMarino, who served on the board later.

"He was instrumental in the plan to build eight new township schools, DeMarino said. "At the time, the only high school was Woodbridge High School."

Barone also served on the Township Council for seven years. He was appointed mayor in the spring of April 1967 to complete the unexpired term of Mayor Walter Zirpolo, who had resigned. He was elected to a full term in November 1967.

Barone played a pivotal part in the planning for the Woodbridge Center Mall.

"It's the most exciting development in the history of Woodbridge," Barone was quoted in the book "Woodbridge, New Jersey's Oldest Township," by Virginia Bergen Troeger and Robert J. McEwen.

The mall opened in 1970.

He also spearheaded the drive for a new railroad station and participated in the dedication of the Metro Park train station.

Barone also designed a storm-drainage plan to eliminate flooding in the center of Woodbridge and other parts of the town.

"He helped modernize Woodbridge," said former Gov. and Woodbridge Mayor James E. McGreevey. "He added his personal touch during his time of transformation, leadership and advancement. He had such an affection and warmth of character."

But it was his push for a plan to build a solid waste incinerator in Sewaren that cost him his bid for re-election in 1971.

"His ideas were something new at the time," said DeMarino. "But the Republicans fought him on it, and they succeeded."

Republican John J. Cassidy defeated Barone in the mayoral election.

"He was heartbroken," said DeMarino. "He took it real hard because he knew he was right. And he was. Look at what we do now. We recycle. If we listened to him back then, the township of Woodbridge would have saved so much money."

Barone went back to work in the private sector after his defeat.

He owned and operated R.P. Barone Professional Placement Consulting in Woodbridge and Envirogetics Inc. in Hoboken and Woodbridge. The companies specialized in environmental science.

Unfortunately, Barone had to declare bankruptcy for Envirogetics Inc. a few years after he started it.

Republican Mayor Philip Cerria appointed him as public works director in 1984. But Cerria fired Barone in 1987, after he attended a victory rally for DeMarino, Cerria's Democratic opponent.

Longtime friend Vincent Martino, a former Woodbridge councilman and Middlesex County freeholder, said besides being brilliant, Barone was also a good family man.

"Even when he was at his busiest, he was always concerned about his family," said Martino. "I last spoke to him on Easter Sunday. He said he wasn't feeling as well, but he was more worried about his wife's [Marie] eyesight. She was getting to be partially blind."

Barone was a founding director of JFK Medical Center in Edison and worked as a chief research scientist with the state Department of Environmental Protection before he retired in 1995.

"He worked until he was 75," said DeMarino. "He just loved what he did."

He was born on July 10, 1921, in West Pittston, Pa.

Barone served in the Army in World War II and received the Soldier's Medal for Heroism.

He attended the public schools in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Newark College, Rutgers University. He then went on to earn a master's degree in science and a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

After college, Barone worked as a chief chemist for American Cyanamid in Bound Brook for several years.

Barone was predeceased by his brother, Carman Barone, in 1956. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Marie Rigato Barone; two sons and a daughter-in-law, Joseph Barone of South Plainfield, and Michael and Deborah Barone of Toms River; a daughter and son-in-law, Dianne and Zoltan Timar of Colts Neck; and three grandchildren, Angela Marie and Michael Daniel Barone, and Zoltan Timar.