Bernard J. Dwyer

Bernard J. Dwyer
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 6th district
In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Edwin B. Forsythe
Succeeded by	Frank Pallone
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 15th district
In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1983
Preceded by	Edward J. Patten
Succeeded by	District eliminated
Member of the New Jersey Senate from the 18th district
In office 1974–1980
Personal details
Born	Bernard James Dwyer January 24, 1921 Perth Amboy, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	October 31, 1998 (aged 77) Edison, New Jersey, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Lilyan Sudzina
Children	Pamela Dwyer Stockton
Parents	Daniel F. Dwyer Alice Zehrer Dwyer
Alma mater	Rutgers University-Newark
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1940–1945
Battles/wars	World War II

Bernard James Dwyer (January 24, 1921 – October 31, 1998) was an American Democratic Party politician, who served as a United States Representative from New Jersey from 1981 to 1993.

Biography

Dwyer was born in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, New Jersey, to Daniel F. and Alice (Zehrer) Dwyer. A Roman Catholic, he attended public elementary and high schools. He attended Rutgers University-Newark. He served in the United States Navy during World War II (1940–1945). He married Lilyan Sudzina in 1944. They had a daughter, Pamela Dwyer Stockton.

Dwyer was an insurance broker by profession. His political career began when he successfully ran for a seat on the Edison, New Jersey city council, serving 1958–1969. He was elected Mayor of Edison, New Jersey in 1958, serving a single four-year term. Dwyer served as a member of the New Jersey Senate, where he represented the 18th Legislative District from 1974 to 1980.

He was elected to the United States House of Representatives, and served six terms (January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1993). He represented New Jersey's 15th congressional district during his first term, but redistricting after the 1980 Census, shifted him to the 6th district.

Dwyer was the last member of Congress who was also a survivor of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor when he retired in 1992.

Dwyer did not seek reelection in 1992, and retired in 1993. Redistricting after the 1990 Census had merged his district with that of fellow Democrat Frank Pallone.

His papers of 1981 to 1992, are stored at the Rutgers University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives in New Brunswick, New Jersey. They include congressional office files consisting chiefly of documentation accumulated while he was a member of the United States House Committee on Appropriations.

A resident of Metuchen, New Jersey, Dwyer died at John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey on October 31, 1998, of a heart attack.^[1] He was buried at St. Gertrude's Cemetery in Colonia, New Jersey.

References

1. "B. J. Dwyer, New Jersey Congressman, 77". New York Times. November 5, 1998. Retrieved 2011-09-30. Bernard James Dwyer, a former Representative from New Jersey, died Saturday in Edison, N.J., at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center, which he had served as a trustee. He was 77 and, a longtime Edison resident, had lived in Metuchen, N.J., for the last few years. The cause was a heart attack, his family said.

External links

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Bernard James Dwyer at The Political Graveyard

"Bernard J. Dwyer". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2009-03-04.

• "Bernard James Dwyer." Marquis Who's Who TM. Marquis Who's Who, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Document Number: K2016524728. Fee. Accessed 2009-12-08 via Fairfax County Public Library.