Hazel Gluck

Hazel Frank Gluck
Ocean County Board of Freeholders
In office January 1977 – December 1979
New Jersey Assemblywoman
In office January 1980 – January 1982
Preceded by	Daniel F. Newman
Succeeded by	Warren Wolf
Executive Director, New Jersey Lottery Commission
In office 1982–1985
Preceded by	Gloria Decker
New Jersey Commissioner of Insurance
In office 1985–1986
Preceded by	Kenneth Merin
Succeeded by	Kenneth Merin
New Jersey Commissioner of Transportation
In office 1986–1989
Preceded by	Roger Bodman
Succeeded by	Thomas Downs
Personal details
Born	(1934-09-06) September 6, 1934 New York, New York
Spouse(s)	Joseph Gluck, M.D. (divorced)
Children	Deborah Gluck, Michael Gluck
Religion	Judaism[1]

Hazel Sara Frank Gluck (born September 6, 1934) is an American Republican Party politician and lobbyist who served in the New Jersey General Assembly and held several posts in the cabinet of Governor Thomas Kean.

Early life

Gluck was born in New York City, the only daughter of Jewish immigrants from the United Kingdom. She was raised in Brooklyn and Westchester, and graduated from A.B. Davis High School in Mount Vernon, New York.^[2] She is a 1956 graduate of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She married Joseph Gluck, a physician, and had two children: Deborah (born 1957) and Michael (born 1959).^[3]

Political career

A resident of Lakewood Township, New Jersey,^[4] Gluck became active in the League of Women Voters and served as President of the chapter in Lakewood. She became active in Ocean County Republican politics as a protege of Joseph Buckalew, who had served as Lakewood Mayor, Ocean County Freeholder and Republican County Chairman. She was later appointed Director of the Ocean County Department of Consumer Affairs.^[2]

In 1976, Gluck was elected to the Ocean County Board of Freeholders. She defeated a Democratic incumbent who was elected in the 1973 Watergate landslide. Her election gave the Republicans control of the Freeholder Board, which they have held since then.^[2]

Gluck gave up her Freeholder seat to run for the New Jersey General Assembly in 1979. She defeated three-term Democratic Assemblyman Daniel F. Newman by 697 votes, 37,221-26,524.^[5]

In 1981, Gluck gave up her Assembly seat and challenged two-term Democratic State Senator John F. Russo. Russo won easily, defeating Gluck by 11,233 votes, 38,166 (59%) to 26,933 (41%).^[6] Gluck later called her Senate bid a "stupid" mistake, saying that Russo had done a good job and there was no reason to throw him out.^[2]

For a brief time in late 1981 and early 1982, Gluck served as the Ocean County Administrator, as the replacement for Frank B. Holman, who had become Executive Director of the New Jersey Republican State Committee.

Kean administration

After taking office in January 1982, Governor Tom Kean appointed Gluck to serve as Executive Director of the New Jersey Lottery Commission. She was appointed Commissioner of Insurance in 1985, and Commissioner of Transportation in 1987. She also served as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1987 to 1993.^[7]

Gubernatorial candidate

Toward the end of Kean's second term, Gluck began to explore a possible bid for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey in 1989. She was considered a potential gubernatorial candidate in 1993, but instead backed Christine Todd Whitman, who won. She was a top advisor to Whitman, both in her campaign and in her administration.^[8]

Lobbyist

Gluck resigned as state Transportation Commissioner on July 7, 1989 to form a lobbying firm, Public Policy Advisors, Inc., with former state Department of Environmental Protection Assistant Commissioner Sidney Ytkin.^[9] She later formed GluckShaw in a partnership with Judy Shaw. Shaw resigned from the firm in 1994 to become Governor Whitman's Chief of Staff.^[8] In 2003, the firm merged with Martin-Bontempo-Matacera-Bartlett, Inc., to become MBI-GluckShaw, which became one of the state's largest lobbying firms.^[10] She is now retired.

Gay rights activist

Gluck was married to Joseph Gluck, M.D. for 25 years before divorcing in 1981. In 2013, at age 78, she announced that she was gay.^[11] In 2013, she attempted to lobby New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to support marriage equality.^[12]

References