The late Sheila Oliver, New Jersey’s first Black lieutenant governor, was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame on Friday. (Photo by Amanda Brown/New Jersey Monitor)
EAST RUTHERFORD — Gov. Phil Murphy and first lady Tammy Murphy are no strangers to the yearly proceedings of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
But this year they helped open the hall’s 17th induction ceremony with a tribute to someone close to them — Sheila Y. Oliver.
The late lieutenant governor, who died in 2023 during her second term, was the first Black woman to hold the office and the second person to fill the position in state history. Oliver, 71, was also the first woman of color in an elected statewide post.
At Friday night’s ceremony, Tammy Murphy called Oliver, a member of the hall’s 2025 class, a “true New Jersey legend” over the competing din of mall traffic outside the ceremony, the first held in the hall’s new home, the American Dream complex.
As the Ferris wheel turned above a windowed ceiling, the three-hour feting of state greats allowed Gov. Murphy to break out one of his favorite refrains: “Jersey, baby!”
The festivities took place not far from the year-old New Jersey Hall of Fame Entertainment & Learning Center at The Rink, the sprawling retail compound’s ice rink, covered for the occasion.
Tahesha Way, the current lieutenant governor, also helped to open the night’s events, hosted by hall of fame regular Danny DeVito, pride of Asbury Park.
Oliver, who grew up in Newark, was a longtime resident of East Orange, where she was once president of the board of education. Before being elected lieutenant governor in 2017, she was the first Black woman to serve as speaker of the state Assembly from 2010 to 2014. She also served as the commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs.
“If Sheila Oliver had a seat at the table, that meant we all had a seat at the table,” said Renee Oliver, Oliver’s niece, who accepted the honor.
Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill was among the speakers at Friday’s ceremony, one of the few voices to successfully cut through the mall soundtrack and low microphone volume problems to reach the seats in the back. Sherrill, who will be the state’s second woman governor and first who is a Democrat, made a point of it.
The former congresswoman and Navy helicopter pilot remembered the sentiment of a shirt a roommate once gave her: “I’m not yelling, I’m from New Jersey.”
Matching her spirited delivery was another practiced speaker, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who inducted Dorothea Bongiovi, wife of fellow state hall of famer Jon Bon Jovi. The recipient of the hall’s Unsung Hero honor is the founder of JBJ Soul Kitchen, the nonprofit community restaurant.
Booker praised Bongiovi’s “profound moral imagination” and “innovative brilliance.”
Bon Jovi himself made an appearance to induct his bandmate David Bryan, the keyboardist for Bon Jovi. He’s known Bryan, who grew up in Edison, since the 1970s. As high school kids, they played with the band Atlantic City Expressway, back when they’d have to split $150 gig payments between the 10 members of the group.
“Tonight is a celebration of opportunity. And New Jersey is the place for opportunity, and it all starts in the mall,” Bryan said, looking around the venue and harking back to his days growing up near Menlo Park Mall. “No matter where you grow up in New Jersey, you’re always 15, 20 minutes from a mall.”
Before the rise of Bon Jovi, he went to Rutgers on a track to become a doctor and trained at Juilliard. Later, he became a two-time Tony winner for the musical “Memphis.”
Westfield resident Johnny Rzeznik, lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls, performed the 1986 Bon Jovi song “Wanted Dead or Alive.”
Jake Bongiovi, Jon and Dorothea’s son, and his wife, “Stranger Things” star Millie Bobby Brown, were offstage for all the Bon Jovi family love.
The induction of the Jonas Brothers served as the night’s finale. Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas, who are getting ready to wind down their 20th anniversary Greetings From Your Hometown tour next month, didn’t sing, but they did sing the praises of their home state. Growing up in Wyckoff and later moving to Little Falls, the Jersey trio shot to fame in the 2000s.
“There’s just something in the water here in Jersey, am I right?” Nick Jonas said, paying homage to “New Jersey grit.”
Kevin Jonas praised Jersey for being the home where he found the love of his life, Danielle Jonas. Joe Jonas remembered a childhood riding bikes until the streetlights came on, arguing over the last chicken cutlet, and thinking of mall food court options as high dining.
In other highlights, Edie Falco, aka Carmela Soprano, showed up to induct CNN host Dana Bash.
“I love telling people that I’m from New Jersey,” said Bash, who grew up in Montvale and is an alum of Pascack Hills High School.
She reminisced about going to Dairy Queen on Chestnut Ridge Road and ordering cheese fries at the Ridge Diner.
“I know you all want to know, so the exit is 172,” she said.
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