Before activist Steven Goldstein added Loretta Weinberg as his second mother, Bob Gordon had two political mothers: Flossie Dubrow, the first woman to serve as mayor of Fair Lawn, and Mary Burdick, who began her political career at Gordon’s urging in 1987 at age 71 and became Fair Lawn’s mayor. Mary Burdick died on Sunday at age 100.
In 1987, now State Sen. Gordon was serving his first term as a Fair Lawn councilman and helped recruit Burdick, a recently widowed retired librarian, to run for local office. She served until she lost her bid for a third term in 1995.
New Jersey has lost four Democratic political figures this week. In addition to Burdick, the state said goodbye to Jamie Fox, 62, a former state transportation commissioner and operative; former Union County Democratic chair Charlotte DeFilippo, 72; and former State Sen. Richard Coffee, 92, who was briefly a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1973 and later served as the Executive Director of the Assembly Democrats.
