Williams Stanford Hart Sr was a politician who served as mayor of East Orange, New Jersey between 1970 and 1978. This made him the first African American mayor of a major New Jersey city. Hart was born on November 19, 1925, to Margaret and John Hart in Irondale, Jefferson County, Ohio. Hart attended Delaware State University, an HBCU in Dover, Delaware where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education. Hart then attended Seton Hall University in South Orange Village, New Jersey where he received a master’s degree in guidance administration and supervision.
Hart served in the United States Navy during World War II. After the war, he entered politics. In 1959, he became the first African American elected councilman in East Orange, New Jersey. He would be reelected in 1963 and 1967. In 1962, Hart became the first African American executive assistant to New Jersey Governor Richard Hudges. A year later, he was appointed the director of the New Jersey State Division of Youth.
In 1969 Hart, a Democrat, was elected Mayor of East Orange, New Jersey after defeating Republican candidate James Whyte Kelly Jr. This would make Hart the first African American mayor of a major New Jersey city. Hart was reelected in 1973. Hart, an educator, would also serve as the first African American School Superintendent in the Elizabeth, New Jersey, school system, holding the post until he retired in 1970.
In 1972, Hart challenged United States Representative Peter Rodino Jr, for a Democratic Congressional nomination after a federal court redrew district lines to include large Black areas of Essex County. Despite the addition of many more Black voters, Hart lost in the Democratic primary to Rodino. In 1975, Hart was indicted on charges that he paid a $ 1,000 bribe to Essex County Freeholder Thomas H. Cooke Jr, the East Orange Democratic Chairman, to get a municipal judgeship for a local lawyer. Hart would be later acquitted of the charges.
Hart was a member of the Milford Lions Club; the treasurer/trustee of John Wesley United Methodist Church, Milford Neck; and in 1986, he was inducted into the Delaware State Athletic Hall of Fame. He also belonged to many social, civic and humanitarian organizations including the board of trustees of Essex College in New Jersey, the advisory board of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the executive board of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors; and the executive board of the National League of Cities. Hart was also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc, member of the NAACP, member of the Big Brothers of America, and the president of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials.
William Stanford Hart Sr. died on September 23, 1999, at the age of 73 in Milford, Sussex County, Delaware. Hart was once married to Gloria Marian “Punch” Mosley Hart. The couple had five children together.
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“William Stanford Hart Sr,” EOT History,https://www.eohistory.info/EOTimeLine/EOmayors/Hart/williamSharftOBIT.html;
“William Stanford Hart Sr,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108297927/william-stanford-hart;
“William Stanford Hart Sr,” New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/1975/11/06/archives/new-jersey-pages-east-oranges-mayor-hart-indicted-on-bribe-charge.html.
