We mourn Bill Pascrell Jr., Paterson’s champion who devoted life to American democracy

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Paterson has lost a giant. And so has New Jersey.

A relentless promoter of his native Silk City, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. simply loved Paterson. He was certain of its eventual renaissance and he was devoted to it like no other.

At 87, he died Wednesday.

Pascrell, who had been ill for more than a month, was mourned deeply and personally by hundreds across the city as news of his death spread.

“He loved this city and its people with all his heart,” said Bob Guarasci of the New Jersey Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization focused on building quality of life in Paterson. “He fought for the people of Paterson, and for all our nation’s middle class, right to the end. It’s going to be hard to imagine the landscape without him, and we should all be motivated to honor him and his life through service to others.”

Hours after the congressman’s death, flags across the city, including at the Robert A. Roe Federal Building, were lowered to half-staff.

The shock of Pascrell’s passing will surely continue for days — and so it should as a scrappy New Jersey city grieves a former mayor, a longtime congressman and its most loyal son.

Paterson shaped its champion

A lifetime spent in Paterson — a city that has been the cradle of the American Dream for so many in northern New Jersey and well beyond — informed Pascrell’s devotion to fairness for middle-class New Jersey residents.

Paterson and its many troubles — and its many strengths — transcended his approach to politics. Pascrell was, after all, a veteran of the city’s tough-guy politics whose own journey led him through Passaic County Democratic circles, stints in the Legislature in Trenton and, finally, the mayor’s office. First elected to Congress in 1996, he served 14 terms and was seeking a 15th this November.

Silk City mourns: Paterson laments Rep. Bill Pascrell’s death

He never strayed from what he believed was his duty to represent his Paterson neighbors in Washington — the police, the firefighters, the small business owners and the newly-arrived immigrants starting their American journeys in northern New Jersey. They were his priority — as was, in recent years in particular, the preservation of our great American democratic traditions.

Pascrell championed economic policies he believed would benefit his neighbors across his district. He worked to protect Social Security and Medicare, to expand access to health care, to better protect first responders on the job and to better serve veterans. He supported broader investment and stimulation of American manufacturing and, recently, was a vocal advocate for investment in American community colleges.

He was also among the New Jersey congressional delegation’s loudest advocates for the restoration of the state and local tax exemption, which was capped during the administration of former President Donald Trump. Pascrell supported investment in infrastructure and successfully steered federal dollars to support NJ Transit and infrastructure investment.

He took good care of Paterson’s greatest asset, too, ensuring that the Great Falls will enjoy a long future under the stewardship of the National Park Service as a tourism driver and an indelible focal point in the city he loved.

“Forget about changing the world,” Pascrell told our editorial board as he sought a new term in Congress in 2022. “Change your community.”

A champion of fairness: These were the causes dear to the late Rep. Bill Pascrell’s heart

A champion of our democracy

Pascrell, as we were, was disgusted and dismayed by the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He was deeply concerned about the prospects of a second Trump presidency and blasted Republican attacks on what he saw as fundamental rights in a near-constant barrage of press releases that filled New Jersey press corps inboxes over the last few years.

He was unequivocal about his commitment to the American experiment in representative democracy. He always reminded us of his years as a history teacher in the Paterson public schools at the start of his career.

When we interviewed him in advance of his re-election in 2022, he was straightforward as ever about his priorities.

“First thing on my list is democracy,” he said. “That’s why I took the stand that I did after Jan. 6. … I’m gonna be a protector of speech and accountability and voting rights.”

And he was.

We will always admire — and will greatly miss — Pascrell’s devotion to Paterson, a city whose fortunes are essential to northern New Jersey.

We will always admire — and remember — his unshakeable belief that American government can be a force for good.

Godspeed, Congressman.

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