William J. Bate
William J. Bate (April 10, 1934 – January 29, 2011) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as a state senator, assemblyman, and judge.
Bate was born April 10, 1934, in
He spent six years as a legislative assistant to Congressman
In 1971, Bate was elected to the
Redistricting for the 1973 elections created single-member Senate districts and put Bate in the same district as another Democratic state senator, Joseph Hirkala. Rather than challenge Hirkala in a primary, Bate instead chose to run for the New Jersey General Assembly and was elected to represent the 34th district. He was re-elected in 1975, 1977 and 1979.[3]
Following the 1981 redistricting, Bate was placed in the newly drawn 34th district, which included parts of Passaic and Essex counties. (Hirkala ran in the Passaic-Bergen 36th district.) He was unopposed for the Democratic nomination, but lost the general election to Passaic County Republican Chairman Joseph Bubba by a 53%-47% margin.[4]
Bate was elected Passaic County Surrogate (Probate Court Judge) in 1982, and was re-elected in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007. He died in office in 2011.[5]
A resident of Clifton, New Jersey,[6] he was married for 48 years to Clara Estrella Bate, a native of the Dominican Republic, and had two sons, William E. Bate and Robert B. Bate.[7]
References
- ^ New Jersey Legislative Manual. Joseph J. Gribbons. 1972. pp. 389–390.
- ^ "Results of the General Election" (PDF). New Jersey Division of Elections. State of New Jersey. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- ^ New Jersey Legislative Manual. Joseph J. Gribbons. 1980.
- ^ "Our Campaigns". Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- ^ "Our Campaigns". Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- ^ Cowen, Richard. "Judge William Bate dies", The Record, January 30, 2011. Accessed September 16, 2015. "Mr. Bate, a lifelong Clifton resident who previously served in the state Legislature and on the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders, was in the midst of his fifth term as surrogate."
- ^ "William J. Bate". The Star-Ledger. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2014.