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Was chairman of SCI at time of death

Former New Jersey Attorney General W. Cary Edwards died Wednesday morning at his Oakland home after battling cancer for many years.

Edwards, who was chairman of the State Council on Investigations at the time of his death, was surrounded by his family at the end. He also served New Jersey as a legislator and chief counsel to Gov. Thomas H. Kean.

"Cary Edwards was one of New Jersey's great leaders of the last 35 years," Gov. Chris Christie said. "He was a fearless lawyer, respected chief counsel to Governor Kean and ground-breaking attorney general. But, just as importantly to me, he was a role model, mentor and dear friend. On behalf of all New Jerseyans, Mary Pat and I extend our deepest condolences to his wife Lynn and the entire Edwards family at this very sad time."

Edwards lost bids to become the Republican nominee for governor in 1989 and 1993.

Edwards was born July 20, 1944 in Paterson and raised in Fair Lawn where his mother Virginia Edwards once served as mayor. Upon graduation in 1967 from Seton Hall University, he enrolled in Seton Hall Law School where he received a scholarship. Upon graduation in 1970, he served as an adjunct professor, assistant dean of students and course author at Seton Hall until 1971.

Edwards became an attorney in 1970 and an associate with the firm of Villorisi and Flanagan until 1974 when he opened his own law firm with Robert Gallo practicing in Oakland until 1982. During the period, he served on the Oakland Borough Council and was elected to three terms in the Assembly as a Republican from Bergen County from 1977 to 1982.

In 1982, Edwards resigned from the Assembly when he was chosen by Kean to become his chief legal counsel. He supervising a staff of 35 attorneys from 1982 until 1986 advising the governor on all aspects of executive branch responsibilities involving legislative and policy initiatives, preparation of the New Jersey state budgets, and drafting regulations for the New Jersey independent authorities.

Edwards was nominated to the position of Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate in 1986 and served as the state's chief law enforcement officer until 1989. He headed the Department of Law & Public Safety with 10,000 employees, 18 divisions and a $350 million budget.

Edwards returned to private practice as the managing New Jersey partner of the Mudge, Rose law firm. He also became a faculty member at the Eagleton Institute of Government Politics & Public Policy of Rutgers University. In 1995 he opened his own private practice of of Edwards and Caldwell in Hawthorne, where he practiced as a senior partner until 2008. In 2008 Cary joined the law firm of Waters, McPherson, McNeill in Secaucus where he remained a partner until his death.

Edison State College recently announced that it is naming the Nursing School of that college in Edwards' honor. He served as a member on the Monmouth University Board of Trustees over two decades and was honored with the title of lifetime Trustee of the Board.

Since 1997, Edwards served first as a commissioner, then as chairman of the State Commission of Investigation (SCI). A proponent of good government, Edwards took on the responsibility of improving the SCI's independent watchdog mission and was one of the longest-serving and most active leaders in the history of the agency.

"The SCI has established a strong reputation as a fair and impartial fact-finding agency that identifies systemic problems," Edwards said in the 2004 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the SCI's founding. "But clearly we have a responsibility to go beyond the mere exposure of systemic problems. We have an obligation to recommend reasonable solutions and to encourage policymakers to implement those recommendations in an appropriate fashion."

The commission completed dozens of reports and conducted numerous public hearings during Edwards' tenure, many involving investigative findings and reform recommendations that produced taxpayer savings and improvements in laws, regulations and government operations at the local, county and state levels. Significant inquiries over which he presided included unprecedented exposes of government waste and abuse and, on the criminal side, investigations that revealed how violent street gang members thrive inside state prisons and the ease with which convicted criminals legally obtain deadly handgun ammunition.

Among the first inquiries in which Edwards played an active role as a commissioner was a joint project with the Attorney General's office that exposed the scope and threat of computer-related crimes in New Jersey. As a result of the SCI's 2000 report on this matter, legislation was enacted revising and updating the state's computer-crime law for the first time in two decades. Another significant investigation during Edwards' watch — a comprehensive probe of manipulation and mismanagement of the E-ZPass electronic toll procurement — resulted in a complete overhaul of the state's public contracts law. Several years later, the findings of an SCI investigation into questionable and excessive compensation for public school administrators led to the adoption of wholesale budgetary and accountability reforms.

Pursuant to his longstanding concern with and involvement in issues related to higher education in New Jersey, Edwards also spearheaded an inquiry that established a framework for restoring accountability, transparency and oversight to public higher education in New Jersey. In January, legislation incorporating the SCI's reform recommendations was signed into law. Edwards called the higher education probe "emblematic of what the SCI does best. This investigation exposed a wide spectrum of serious problems and weaknesses in the governance of publicly-funded higher education and outlined a series of important and necessary reforms that could save millions of dollars."

Edwards said repeatedly that but for the love of his college sweetheart and his wife of 41 years, Lynn Cozzolino Edwards, he would not have accomplished what he did. They had two children Kari Lynn and Marcy. Kari is married to Shane Giordano and they have three children Lilli, Jagger and Jada. Marcy is married to Adam Benner and they have two children Brody and Asher.

Arrangements are being made at the present time for a viewing. Final Services will be private at the request of the family.

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM