D. Bennett Mazur

David Bennett Mazur (December 14, 1924 – October 11, 1994) was an American Democratic Party politician, who was elected to serve six terms in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he represented the 37th Legislative District from 1982 until he was forced to resign in 1992 following a stroke. Mazur also spent two decades as a professor at Ramapo College.

Born in New York City, Mazur served in the United States Army in Europe during World War II, where he earned a Bronze Star Medal as an infantryman, in addition to three Purple Hearts. He earned his undergraduate degree with a major in economics from Lafayette College, earned a Masters of Business Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a major in economics and finance and was awarded a Ph.D. Rutgers University in urban planning and public policy formation. Mazur married the former Betty Greene of the Bronx on September 3, 1951. At the time, Mazur was employed by the New York Daily Mirror.^[2] Mazur was a longtime professor at Ramapo College in Mahwah, New Jersey, where he taught planning and public administration.^[1]

Mazur moved to Fort Lee, New Jersey after completing his military service, where he became a tenant activist. He was first elected to the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1964, serving in office from 1965 to 1967 and again from 1975 to 1980.^[1] In 1966, Mayor of New York City John Lindsay named Mazur to serve on the Metropolitan Regional Council, where he was chosen to head the organization's committee on the future of the Tri-State region.^[3] As Freeholder in 1977, Mazur led efforts to save the Campbell-Christie House, an historic home that had been slated for demolition.^[4] With a $150,000 grant, the 200-year-old home was moved two miles from New Milford to a site at New Bridge Landing in River Edge.^[5]

He was elected to the Assembly in 1981, where legislation he proposed in 1994 banned the use of leg hold traps by hunters,^[6] created the state's 911 system and banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. He served on the Hudson River Waterfront Planning and Study Commission, the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Study Commission and the Tri-State Regional Planning Commission.^[1]

Mazur was elected to serve a sixth term in office in November 1991, but was forced to resign on February 24, 1992 due to a stroke he suffered on Election Day.^[1][7] Loretta Weinberg was chosen by Democratic committee members in March 1992 to fill the seat he vacated in the Assembly and was sworn into office in later that month.^[7]

Mazur died at age 69 on October 11, 1994, at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey due to complications of the stroke he had earlier suffered. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife, the former Betty Greene, as well as by four children and a grandson.^[1]

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