Rose Marie Heck, a former assemblywoman from Bergen County and a longtime mayor of Hasbrouck Heights, died on March 7. She was 93.
As a legislator, Heck fiercely supported government services to assist abused women and children and tax relief for seniors. She advocated for the protection of revenues received by Hasbrouck Heights from Teterboro Airport.
Heck is the last Republican to win an Assembly seat in the Bergen County-based 38th district. She won a special election convention in January 1991 after William “Pat” Schuber was elected Bergen County Executive. She remained in the legislature until 2004.
She was the longtime editor of two weekly newspapers, the Hasbrouck Heights Observer and the Lodi Gazette.
In 1979, Heck launched a challenge to Republican Mayor William Imken as an independent. Imken won, 51%-36% against Democrat George Hughes, with Heck finishing third with 13% of the vote. She lost a 1981 GOP primary for the Hasbrouck Heights Borough Council.
She made another bid for borough council in 1984. Heck was the top vote-getter, and her running mate, Councilman Andrew Link, defeated Democrat Robert Burns, a former two-term assemblyman and councilman, by roughly 400 votes.
Heck ran for mayor in 1987 and defeated Democrat Robert Burns, a former assemblyman and councilman, by a 55%-45% margin. She succeeded Imken, who had served as mayor for 18 years.
Her election to the State Assembly came on a second ballot victory over former four-term Assemblyman Louis Kosco (R-Paramus) by a single vote, 94-93. That tally came after two votes, both cast for Heck, were disqualified; both county committee members were from Palisades Park and had been appointed to vacant seats two days earlier.
Heck and Kosco advanced to the runoff after three other candidates were eliminated: Oradell Councilman Guy Talarico, Hackensack Councilman Mauro Mecca, and Saddle Brook Councilman Richard Onorevola. Kosco left the Assembly in 1987 to unsuccessfully challenge State Sen. Paul Contillo (R-Paramus). Kosco challenged the results in court, but Superior Court Judge Arthur Troast refused a request for a new election.
After redistricting in 1991, Heck and another Republican, Patrick Roman (R-Palisades Park), faced a Democratic incumbent, Thomas Duch (D-Garfield); Duch had previously represented the adjacent 36th district. Bergen County Republicans picked Kosco for a rematch with Contillo.
In the general election, Heck and Roma defeated Duch and Cliffside Park Councilman Frank Biasco by a wide margin; Heck outdistanced Roma by over 9,000 votes.
In that same election, Heck was re-elected to a second term as mayor, defeating Burns for a second time, 61%-39%.
Two years later, Heck and Roma easily won re-election against Biasco and Burns. Heck’s margin was almost 15,000 votes. She was re-elected in 1995 by a margin of over 4,000 votes. Running with Talarico in 1997, Heck won by over 5,000 votes against Democrats Fred Dressel and Michael Paul De Marse; in 1999, Heck and Talarico won by over 3,000 votes against Democrats Helene Herbert and Robert Riccardella.
Heck did not seek re-election to a third term as mayor in 1995 and was succeeded by Republican William J. Torre.
Redistricting in 2001 made the 38th considerably more Democratic after adding Fort Lee and Fair Lawn. It left Talarico without a seat after Assemblyman Nicholas Felice (R-Fair Lawn),
Heck finished in first place with 27,055 votes, but Fair Lawn Deputy Mayor Matt Ahearn unseated Felice by 667 votes, 26,919 to 26,252. Fort Lee Democratic Municipal Chair Key Nest finished third in that race with 26,587 votes, putting Democrats 468 votes shy of ousting two Republican incumbents.
Kosco lost his Senate seat in 2001 to Paramus Democratic Municipal Chairman Joseph Coniglio.
In 2003, Heck decided to challenge Coniglio. She defeated Jay Schainholz, part of a ticket assembled by conservative leader Steve Lonegan, by a 63%-37% margin.
In the general election, Coniglio held his Senate seat against Heck by a 4,756-vote margin, 23,077 to 18,321 (56$-44%). Democrats flipped Heck’s Assembly seat.
After losing her Senate bid, Heck returned to local office and, in 2007, at age 75, again became mayor of Hasbrouck Heights. She defeated Democratic Councilwoman Maryetta Saccomano with 63% of the vote. She was re-elected in 2011 with 75% of the vote against independent Dragan Blanusa.
Heck served as the Assembly Majority Conference Leader from 2000 to 2002, and chaired the Assembly Policy and Regulatory Oversight Committee from 1996 to 1999.
Before running for mayor, Heck had served as Hasbrouck Heights Republican municipal chair, as a commissioner of the Bergen County Utilities Authority, and as chair of the Southwest Community Development Community, which represented eleven Bergen County municipalities. She was the former president of the Hasbrouck Heights Chamber of Commerce.
Heck was born in Hoboken.
Visitation will be held on Thursday, March 12, from 3-8 PM at Costa Memorial Home in Hasbrouck Heights. A Funeral Liturgy is scheduled for Friday, March 13, at 11:30 AM at Corpus Christi R.C. Church in Hasbrouck Heights.
