Nelson Stamler

Stamler died on April 11, 1972 while vacationing with his wife at the Harmony House Hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The cause of death was Uraemia due to liver failure and a perforated Dusdenal Ulcer. He is buried at B'nai Israel Cemetery in Newark, New Jersey.

Stamler did not seek re-election to the State Senate in 1967. After the election, Hughes appointed Stamler to serve as a Union County Court Judge. The State Senate confirmed his nomination unanimously. He was reappointed to the bench by Governor William T. Cahill.

He had to run again in 1965 after the U.S. Supreme Court, in Reynolds v. Sims (more commonly known as One Man, One Vote), required redistricting by state legislatures for congressional districts to keep represented populations equal, as well as requiring both houses of state legislatures to have districts drawn that contained roughly equal populations, and to perform redistricting when needed. Because of its population, Union County gained a second Senate seat. Stamler ran with Assemblyman Peter J. McDonough (R-Plainfield); they were opposed by Assemblywoman Mildred Barry Hughes (D-Union Township) and William P. Hourihan of Elizabeth, a top executive of Standard Oil Company/Esso. Governor Hughes was re-elected in a landslide and brought with him majorities in both houses of the Legislature. Mildred Barry Hughes became the first woman to serve in the State Senate, edging out McDonough by a little more than 2,000 votes. But Stamler won decisively, out-polling Hourihan by more than 18,000 votes.

In March 1965, Stamler announced that he was considering a bid for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey. He said he would run if he would win the endorsements of some key Republican County Chairman and if he could raise the necessary campaign funds. He directly criticized the front runner, State Senator Wayne Dumont, Jr. (R-Warren), saying that the Republicans needed a candidate who opposed a state sales tax (which Dumont supported) and who opposed the court-mandated legislative redistricting. Stamler was unable to secure the endorsements, and instead backed another Senate colleague, Charles W. Sandman, Jr. Dumont served on the 1953 Joint Legislative Commission that investigated Stamler's termination as Deputy Attorney General and voted to uphold Stamler's firing. Dumont defeated Sandman 50%-47% in the GOP primary. Instead, he successfully campaigned for re-election to the State Senate.

Stamler was re-elected to a second term in the State Senate in 1963, defeating his Democratic opponent, three-term Assemblyman James M. McGowan, by 16,006 votes (55%-45%).

In 1962, State Senator Robert C. Crane died of cancer at the age of 41, creating a special election to fill his vacant Senate seat. With the State Senate evenly divided at ten Republicans and ten Democrats, the Special Election would determine control of the upper house. Stamler became a candidate for State Senator. He easily won the Republican Primary, defeating his 1957 opponent, former Assemblywoman Irene Griffin, by a margin of nearly 3-1, 17,846 to 6,300. In the General Election, Stamler faced former Linden Mayor H. Roy Wheeler, who had come within 567 votes of beating Crane three years earlier.

He made a second bid for Assemblyman in 1959, the only Republican to win an Assembly seat in Union County that year. Stamler was the top vote-getter, defeating incumbent Democrat George M. Miller by more than 4,000 votes. He was re-elected to a second term in 1961. He was again the top vote-getter and the only Republican to win; this time his margin was more than 5,000 votes.

Stamler made his first bid for public office in 1957, seeking the Republican nomination for the New Jersey General Assembly. While considered the front runner for the nomination, he wound up losing the primary to Irene Griffin, a former Assemblywoman and a perennial candidate, by a margin of less than 100 votes.

On January 27, 1953, Attorney General Theodore D. Parsons fired Stamler for "irresponsible and insubordinate actions."

Harold John Adonis, a former aide to Gov. Driscoll, was accused of taking a $228,000 bribe to provide "state protection" for several gamblers, including Willie Moretti, who was murdered in Cliffside Park. Driscoll fired him in 1949, and Adonis fled to The Netherlands forcing New Jersey law enforcement officials to initiate extradition proceedings. Stamler said that Adonis, in a letter to him, identified others connected to the alleged bribe. Stamler was fired the following day.

In 1947, Governor Alfred E. Driscoll appointed him to serve as Deputy Attorney General of New Jersey, working under Attorney General Walter D. Van Riper. He became well known as a "racket buster" in the 1950s when he led a war on illegal gambling operations. He won over 40 convictions and led hundreds of raids throughout the state. He was a strong advocate of wiretapping by law enforcement, especially as a means to fight illegal gambling operations.

Nelson Frank Stamler (May 4, 1909 – April 11, 1972) was an American Republican Party politician, prosecutor and judge. He won considerable fame in the 1950s as a racket-busting Deputy state Attorney General who waged a war on illegal gambling operations. His work was also controversial, and eventually terminated by the state Attorney General. He later won elections to the State Assembly and State Senate, and served as a Superior Court Judge.

Stamler was born on May 4, 1909 in Elizabeth, the son of Samuel Stamler and Jeanette Frank Stamler, both Austrian immigrants. He had a sister, Millicent, and a brother, Joseph Stamler, who served as a New Jersey Superior Court Judge. He attended Battin High School in Elizabeth. He was a 1932 graduate of the University of West Virginia, where he was a member of a Jewish fraternity, Phi Sigma Delta. He received his law degree from Rutgers University Law School in 1933. He married Gertrude Aronwitz on June 3, 1933 in New York City; they remained married until her death in 1966. They had three children: John H. Stamler, who later served as the Union County Prosecutor; Jane and Nancy. His second wife, Barbara, survived him. From 1933 to 1947, and again from 1953 to 1967, Stamler practiced law in Elizabeth.