{{short description|American politician}} '''Edward Kent Gill''' (November 14, 1917 – February 9, 1985) was an American Republican Party politician who served as Mayor of Cranford, New Jersey and was elected to two terms of office in the New Jersey General Assembly, from 1982 until his death, where he represented the 21st Legislative District.
==Biography== Gill was born in England on November 14, 1917. He was raised in Newark, and attended Weequahic High School before serving in the United States Air Force during World War II.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=amIkAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Mr.+Gill,+a+graduate+of+Weequahic+High+School,+Newark%22 ''Fitzgerald's Legislative Manual, 1984''], p. 259. J.A. Fitzgerald, 1984. Accessed September 19, 2019. "Mr. Gill, a graduate of Weequahic High School, Newark, served in the Air Force from 1942 to 1946."</ref> Gill earned his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and was awarded a Master of Business Administration degree from New York University. He started working at Western Electric in the 1930s, and during his four decades there was promoted to director, retiring from the company in 1979. for 40 years, retiring in 1979 as a director.<ref name=NYTObit/>
Active in many Cranford community organizations, Gill was president of the Taxpayers Association, and served on the Housing Board and the Board of Health.<ref name=PIObit/> He served as the township's mayor from 1967 to 1970. He was elected to the State Assembly in 1981, seeking an open seat when incumbent C. Louis Bassano ran for the State Senate. Gill and his running mate, Chuck Hardwick, defeated Democrats Edward Jonathan Bell and John D. Mollozzi by a wide margin.<ref>Fitzgerald's New Jersey Legislative Manual</ref> In 1983, Hardwick and Gill defeated Democrats Barbara Brande and Eugene J. Carmody.<ref>Fitzgerald's Legislative Manual</ref> Gill won by a relatively narrow 2,509 votes over Brande, who had been the first woman to serve as Mayor of Cranford. He had announced that he would not run for a third term in the Assembly.<ref name=PIObit>Staff. [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB298F80688F950&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "Deaths Elsewhere"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213144424/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB298F80688F950&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |date=2017-12-13 }}, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', February 11, 1985. Accessed July 18, 2010.</ref>
Gill died at age 67 on February 9, 1985, at Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield, New Jersey due to heart disease. He was survived by his wife, the former Margaret Lizzotte, as well as by a daughter, four sons and three grandchildren.<ref name=NYTObit>{{cite news |title=Edward K. Gill |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/13/nyregion/edward-k-gill.html |quote=Edward K. Gill, who was elected to the New Jersey Assembly in 1981 at the age of 62 after a long career in business, died of a heart ailment Saturday in Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield, N.J. He was 66 years old and lived in Cranford. ... |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 13, 1985 |access-date=2011-09-19 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Edward K.}} Category:1917 births Category:1985 deaths Category:People from Cranford, New Jersey Category:Politicians from Newark, New Jersey Category:Politicians from Union County, New Jersey Category:Weequahic High School alumni Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Category:Mayors of places in New Jersey Category:Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Category:New York University Stern School of Business alumni Category:Rutgers University alumni Category:20th-century mayors of places in New Jersey Category:British emigrants to the United States Category:20th-century members of the New Jersey Legislature