Frank E. Rodgers
| Frank E. Rodgers | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Harrison, New Jersey | |
|
In office September 4, 1946 – August 22, 1995 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Francis E. Rodgers November 15, 1909 |
| Died | February 8, 2000 (aged 90) |
| Resting place | Holy Cross Cemetery (North Arlington, New Jersey) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Parents | Michael Rodgers Johanna Davin |
Francis E. Rodgers (November 15, 1909 – February 8, 2000) was an American Democratic Party politician who was among the longest-serving Mayors in U.S. history, first elected in 1946 as Mayor of Harrison, New Jersey. He served in the position for 48 years from 1946 to 1995, having been elected to 24 consecutive two-year terms in office. On May 30, 1987, Rodgers earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records when he surpassed by a single day Mayor Erastus Corning II of Albany, New York, who died in office in 1983 after having served 40 years, 4 months and 28 days in office. The town marked the occasion by closing municipal offices in the mayor's honor and by letting students in the Harrison Public Schools have a day off. However, Mayor Hilmar Moore of Richmond, Texas, served a much longer span of 63 years in office until he died in 2012.
He was born on November 15, 1909 to Michael Rodgers and Johanna Davin. Rodgers ran for the Harrison Town Council for the first time in 1935, and served there for ten years, including a term when he was re-elected to office while serving 27 months in the United States Army during World War II in the Counterintelligence Corps.
Rodgers defeated incumbent Frederick J. Gassert in his first bid for the mayoralty, a candidate backed by Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague's Hudson County Democratic Party machine. Over his years in office, Rodgers had served as Town Clerk, as County Clerk, as a member of the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders and as the Board's clerk. He served two terms in the New Jersey Senate, from 1978 to 1984, defeating Independent incumbent Anthony Imperiale.
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