Richard J. Codey, a third-generation funeral director who became New Jersey’s longest-serving legislator and, eventually, the state’s 53rd governor, has died. He was 79.
In an announcement on Codey’s Facebook page, his family said he died at home on January 11, 2026 “after a brief illness.”
Codey, a longtime member of the New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association, was proud of his first profession, maintaining his mortuary license even while serving in the Legislature. In fact, Codey believed being a funeral director and a politician went hand in hand.
“They’re always on the job, and you can’t allow yourself to be pushed out a door when people are hurting or need someone to hear them,” Codey said when he announced his retirement from his state Senate seat in 2023. “I have always loved listening to you.”
And as a legislator and governor, Codey listened for 50 years.
He was first elected to the state Assembly in 1973 and took office in January 1974. He became a state senator in 1982 and was chosen to be Senate president in 2002. His role as Senate president was what brought him to the governor’s mansion in 2004. Then Governor Jim McGreevey resigned from office, declaring that he was a “gay American” and admitting to an extramarital affair with a male aide. Under the state constitution, the Senate president was the second-ranking elected official in the state, and Codey succeeded McGreevey.
Codey initially was not pleased with his new job, saying the development left him “damn unhappy.”
“I saw my life as being ruined,” Codey wrote in his 2011 book, “Me, Governor?”
But he took to the job, just as he did with legislating and funeral directing. A people person at his core, Codey connected his constituency, becoming one of the state’s more popular recent governors. It was the lessons he learned in his father’s funeral home, where respect for all, no matter their station in life, was a must.
“’When you go into a church, make sure you treat the janitor as well as the priest. He can recommend you for a funeral just as well.’ For me, that has translated into ‘every constituent is important; treat them all respectfully,’” Codey wrote.
Despite Codey’s position among the political elite in New Jersey, it was that common touch that was a point of pride for him and his family.
“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote in the Facebook statement announcing his death. “He spoke the truth when others wouldn't and fought tirelessly for the people of New Jersey during his record-setting 50 years in the Legislature. He made friends as easily with presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”
NJSFDA Executive Director and CEO George R. Kelder Jr., CFSP, called Codey’s death a “profound loss” and remembered Codey’s relatable nature and willingness to help whenever and wherever he was needed.
“To me, he was simply ‘Dick’ or ‘Gov.’ He called me ‘kid,’ checked in on the NJSFDA regularly never hesitating to share the knowledge and hard-earned wisdom he accumulated over decades in public life,” Kelder wrote in an appreciation of Codey. “He believed mentorship mattered, and that experience carried an obligation to be passed along, not hoarded.”
As governor, Codey was credited for being a calming influence after the chaos of McGreevey’s departure, but among his proudest achievements were his efforts while in the Legislature to help people with mental health issues and addictions.
Codey’s wife, Mary Jo, has been open with her struggles with postpartum depression, saying in an interview with New Bridge that dealing with breast cancer “was a piece of cake compared to depression.”
The Codeys, who joined together to start the Codey Fund for Mental Health, were also instrumental in the passage of a law that required hospitals to screen for postpartum depression in new mothers.
Through it all, though, Codey remained a funeral director at heart, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, immersed in the details of a detail-oriented business. Even after retiring from the Legislature, he stayed active.
In his 2023 retirement message, he joked that he wasn’t dying yet, “but if you or someone you know is, please call Codey Funeral Home in Caldwell or Codey & Mackey in Boonton. (What, you thought I was gonna stop telling jokes on this of all days?),” Codey wrote.
That was Codey–humorous but dedicated, always ready to tackle another task with a wink, a smile and a let’s-get-it-done attitude.
It was, Governor Phil Murphy said in a statement remembering Codey, typical Jersey.
“If anybody embodied our proud New Jersey values, it was Governor Dick Codey,” Murphy said.