New Jersey Lt. Gov Sheila Oliver, who was the first Black woman to serve as speaker of the state’s Assembly, has died. She was 71.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is making plans to come back from a vacation in Italy in light of her death, two people familiar with his plans tell CBS News. Murphy, who owns a home there, had been set to return on Aug. 13.
No cause of death was given, Murphy’s office said in a statement from the Oliver family. Murphy said he and his family are distraught at the news. Naming Oliver as his lieutenant governor was, he said, “the best decision I ever made.”
Oliver was taken to Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey, on Monday, according to Murphy’s spokesperson, Mahen Gunaratna. Earlier Tuesday, Gunaratna said Oliver was receiving “medical care,” but declined to elaborate further.
Oliver had been acting as governor while Murphy is out of the country on vacation, but during her hospitalization, fellow Democrat and state Senate President Nicholas Scutari became acting governor.
In 2010, Oliver became the first Black woman to serve as Assembly speaker, before losing the position to Assemblyman Vincent Prieto in 2013.
She served in the Assembly since 2004 and was on the Essex County board of chosen freeholders from 1996 to 1999. She was born and raised in Newark and has a sociology degree from Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University.
— CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe contributed to this report
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