Former state Senator S. Thomas Gagliano, 87, of Red Bank, died Saturday, April 13 at home.
A wake will be held Tuesday, 4 to 8 pm, at the Woolley-Boglioli Funeral Home, 10 Morrell Street, Long Branch. A Mass of Christian burial will follow on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Long Branch. Interment will follow at Glenwood Cemetery, West Long Branch.
Sen. Gagliano, born in Long Branch and a former resident of Oceanport, Holmdel, Rumson and Red Bank served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean conflict and graduated from Brown University in 1954. He studied law at Georgetown University. He enjoyed a long, rich career in public service in Monmouth County and New Jersey as a Republican who could work well across the aisle. After serving five years as county surrogate, he served in the NJ Senate for three terms, running in 1977, 1981, 1983 and 1987 before taking the executive director post of NJ Transit. In the 1970s and ’80s, he served as the attorney for Shore Regional’s school board and Holmdel Township, was a founding member of one of the first cable TV companies in New Jersey. He started a West Long Branch law firm with partners.
In 1991, he helped create the Jersey Shore Partnership to help stabilize funding sources for beach replenishment.
A full obituary can be seen at the Woolley-Boglioli Funeral Home website.
