Kenneth A. Gewertz

Early life and education Gewertz was born on December 1, 1934, in Chicago as one of four children. He moved as a one-year-old to Philadelphia, where he attended West Philadelphia High School, dropping out of school after two years and serving in the military and working at a number of odd jobs. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia.

In January 1972, David Friedland was one of four Democrats who voted to give the minority Republicans control of the General Assembly, electing Thomas Kean as Assembly Speaker; Friedland and his allies argued that the Democratic leadership had been ignoring the needs of Hudson County. Gewertz shouted on the Assembly floor that "Jesus Christ had his Judas, the Democrats now have their David Friedland".

Upon the creation of a 40-district legislative map in 1973 in response to the one-man-one-vote system mandated by the 1964 Supreme Court decision in Reynolds v. Sims, the new 4th Legislative District consisted of portions of Burlington County, Camden County, Gloucester County. In the 1973 general election, both Gewertz and Gorman were elected to the General Assembly, representing the 4th District; they were re-elected in 1975 and 1977.

James M. Turner was removed from the Senate on June 28, 1973, after being convicted for his role in a conspiracy in which bags filled with 6,500 amphetamine tablets were placed in Gewertz's home, as part of an effort to destroy Gewertz's political career. With his conviction, Turner was barred from running for office or serving in any state office.

Governor Brendan Byrne and Democratic party leaders initiated efforts in early 1974 to marginalize Gewertz in his role as Majority Whip, based on Gewertz's opposition to Byrne's legislative initiatives, including public financing of elections and the imposition of a state income tax to be used towards providing additional aid to needy school districts.

In May 1978, Gewertz agreed to end his ownership of a company that had sold 250 slot machines to Resorts Casino Hotel, which had been in the process of opening the first casino in Atlantic City and had wanted to have access to multiple vendors for the gambling devices; the Legislature's Ethics Committee had issued a confidential decision that Gewertz hadn't violated any ethical constraint, but was willing to disclose the decision and eliminate his involvement to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

In 1979, James Florio, then a Congressman, convinced Daniel Dalton and Dennis L. Riley to run in the June primary under the label of the "Florio Democratic Team" against three-term incumbents Gewertz and Gorman, who had the support of Angelo Errichetti and the Camden County Democratic Organization. Dalton (with 31.3% of the vote) and Riley (with 28.3%) won the two ballot spots in the primary balloting.

Gewertz was known for driving an orange Corvette and wearing yellow plaid suits while on the floor of the Assembly.

In 1989, Gewertz was elected to a three-year term on the Deptford Township Council.

Death Gewertz died of a heart attack on December 12, 2006, at the age of 72 at a home he owned in Orlando, Florida. He was interred at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Hurffville, New Jersey.