Frank Herbert

Francis Xavier Herbert (January 11, 1931 – September 25, 2018) was an American school teacher and Democratic Party politician who served a single term in the New Jersey Senate where he represented the 39th Legislative District. He is the only candidate in New Jersey history to win a Federal primary election as a write-in candidate.

Biography Herbert was born on January 11, 1931, in Greenville, Jersey City, New Jersey to a working class, Irish Catholic family. Herbert received his bachelor's degree from Fordham University in 1956 and his master's degree in education from Montclair State University. He taught English at the William L. Dickinson High School in Jersey City from September 1956 at least through June 1960.

Herbert lost his first race for office running for the Borough Council in Waldwick, but ran again the next year and won. Herbert was the sponsor of the bill that created NJ Transit, the statewide public transit agency, in July 1979.

Gerald Cardinale defeated the incumbent Herbert in 1981. Herbert fell short again running against Cardinale in 1983, losing by about 1,000 votes.

In 1994, Democratic Party officials asked Herbert, then a resident of Sparta Township, to run in the primary against John Kucek in New Jersey's 11th congressional district. In the general election, Herbert lost resoundingly to Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen by a margin of 71.2%-28.0%.

By then a resident of Rockaway Township, Herbert won the Democratic primary for the party's state senate nomination in the 25th Legislative District in 2007. Campaigning on a platform that included a proposal to use a portion of revenue from the state's toll roads to fund lower fares on New Jersey Transit and opposing Bucco's vote against state funding for stem cell research, Herbert lost to incumbent Anthony Bucco by 61.5%-38.5%.

He was married to the former Eleanor Gillen and has three adult children. He died at the age of 87 on September 25, 2018.