Michael Dressler, who had overcome tremendous adversity to become the longtime Bergen County Surrogate and one of the county’s most popular public officials, died this morning after a short illness. He was 73.
Just before his high school graduation, Dressler dove into water at the Jersey Shore to find that he had hit a sandbar just a couple of feet from the surface. He was administered last rights but survived. Paralyzed, he spent almost two years undergoing physical rehabilitation.
Dressler first ran for public office in 1974, as a 22-year-old junior at Fairleigh Dickinson University seeking a seat on the Cresskill council. He was the top vote-getter in that race.
The Watergate scandal moved strongly Republican towns like Cresskill into the Democratic column, with a sweep of seats in the 1973 and 1974 elections.
Dressler later served as Bergen County Counsel and was elected Cresskill mayor in in 1983, at age 31, unseating Republican incumbent Robert Muir by a 54%-46% margin. He was re-elected in 1987 with 59% of the vote. He didn’t run for a third term in 1991.
In 1996, Bergen County Surrogate Steven Rothman resigned to seek an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democrats picked Dressler as their candidate for Surrogate. He defeated Republican Simone Mele by a 52%-48% margin even as two Republican freeholders, James Sheehan and Anthony Cassano, and GOP Sheriff Jack Terhune won re-election.
Since then, Dressler has been re-elected five times.
In 2016, he defeated Republican Robert Avery by 61,217 votes, 59%-41%.
