Lucinda Florio

Lucinda Coleman Florio (1947 – November 16, 2022) was an American teacher and advocate for education and literacy, who, as the wife of then-New Jersey governor Jim Florio, served as the first lady of New Jersey from 1990 to 1994.

During her tenure, Florio established the state Office of the First Lady and completed major renovations on the new governor's residence, Drumthwacket.

Biography Early life and career Florio was born Lucinda Coleman in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1947. The second of six siblings, her mother, Jane Coleman, was a restaurant worker and homemaker, while her father, Thomas Coleman, was an engineer who worked two jobs in shipbuilding and repairing boilers. The family relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they lived for four years, before settling in nearby Gloucester City, New Jersey, when Coleman was seven years old. Though she was a student with excellent grades, Florio dropped out of high school during her senior year before graduation to marry her first husband. Lucinda Florio also played a major role in the renovation of the mansion into the modern residence of New Jersey's governors and their families. The gardens were originally created in 1905 by the mansion's previous owner, Moses Taylor Pyne, but had fallen into disrepair by the 1990s. Lucinda Florio died on November 16, 2022, at the age of 75, just 52 days after the death of her husband.