Bill Pascrell Jr., a prominent progressive Democrat from northern New Jersey, passed away on Wednesday in Livingston, New Jersey, at the age of 87. His death, which occurred in a hospital, was confirmed by his deputy chief of staff, Mark Greenbaum.
Mr. Pascrell was in the midst of his 14th term in Congress when he checked into the hospital on July 14 due to a fever. A week later, his staff reported that he had experienced a setback while being treated for a respiratory infection and required “breathing assistance.” Although he had recently been discharged, he had to return to the hospital, as noted by Mr. Greenbaum.
He was widely expected to win re-election. If he had been re-elected and was sworn in January, just before his 88th birthday, he would have become the oldest member of the House of Representatives. Currently, Representative Grace F. Napolitano, a California Democrat, is set to turn 88 in December but did not run for re-election.
Before his congressional career, Mr. Pascrell was a high school history teacher, the grandson of Italian immigrants, and served as both a state legislator and the mayor of Paterson, New Jersey, the city where he was raised before being elected to Congress in 1996.