Villadom Times Weekly Newpaper Online-March 16, 2011 Issue

Mahwah March 16, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 3 Mayor Martel remembered; DaPuzzo to ﬁll vacancy ing body until the next general election. The vacancy on the council that was created by the selection of DaPuzzo as mayor will remain until the March 31 public meeting to provide enough time for people to express their interest in joining the council. That new council member will also have to seek election in November. Martel, 72, had been the township’s mayor for 14 years and was serving his fourth term after being reelected in the municipal elections in May 2008. “Mahwah is missing a great man,” DaPuzzo said after learning of Martel’s death. “That’s the way I really feel. He was a great man. He shaped this town into what it is now. The town and I thank him for all his years of service and for always putting Mahwah above himself.” Another long-time associate of Martel, Councilwoman Lisa DiGiulio, extolled Martel as a man who really cared about Mahwah and all the people in the township. “Mahwah has lost a wonderful friend,” DiGiulio said. “He gave three quarters of his life to Mahwah on various boards and groups and in coaching. He really cared about people and he always wanted to try and make everybody happy and it frustrated him when he could not do that. “In politics you rarely meet people who care, but he cared, and in politics you are lucky if you can meet people whom you can trust. He was my number one trust. He was my dearest friend. I would trust Dick Martel with my life.” Mahwah Township Administrator Brian Campion said it was hard for him to put his feelings about Mayor Martel into words, but he wanted to emphasize the former mayor’s concern about the township’s employees. “Mayor Martel was always concerned about the employees of the township and they will miss him very much,” Campion said. Born in Lewistown, Maine of French Canadian parents, Martel was fluent in French. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and served three years of active duty at the NIKE Missile Base in Franklin Lakes between the Korean and Vietnam wars. He was a graduate of the RCA Institute of Engineering, which is an extension of Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in electrical engineering. An avid Boston Red Sox and New York Giants fan, (continued on page 14) Mayor Richard J. Martel by Frank J. McMahon Mahwah Mayor Richard J. Martel, who died March 7 after a brief illness, was remembered at a special council meeting last week as a shy, gentle man who listened to people, had a heart that was big enough to encompass the whole town, never got angry, and cared very much about the township and each and every township employee. Everyone agreed Martel will be missed and the council indicated its unanimous agreement to name the municipal building after the township’s longtime mayor. Council President John DaPuzzo was selected to temporarily serve as the township’s mayor until the next election in November. John Roth, the council’s vice president, was unanimously selected by the council to succeed DaPuzzo as president. Councilman Harry Williams was unanimously named vice president. The state statute governing a vacancy in the office of mayor permits a temporary appointment to fill the vacancy by a majority vote of the entire membership of the govern- �� SPECIALIZING IN: ��