Mary V. Mochary

Mary Veronica Kasser Mochary (born September 2, 1942 in Budapest, Hungary) is an American attorney and Republican Party politician from New Jersey. She served as Mayor of Montclair, New Jersey and was the Republican nominee for United States Senate in 1984 to oppose incumbent Bill Bradley.

Biography

Mochary was born as Mary Veronica Kasser in Budapest in 1942 to Alexander and Elisabeth Kasser. Her father was the manager of the largest paper mill in Eastern Europe. The family left Hungary at the end of World War II, immigrating first to Mexico and then to the United States. They settled in Montclair, New Jersey when Mochary was 9 years old. She attended Montclair State College High School, an experimental high school at Montclair State College (now Montclair State University). She graduated from Wellesley College in 1963 with a B.A. degree in economics and from the University of Chicago Law School in 1967 with a J.D. degree. In 1965 she married Stephen E. Mochary, also a lawyer, and they went into practice together as Mochary & Mochary in Montclair from 1970 to 1985. They have two children, Alexandra Bergstein and Matthew Mochary.^[1][2]

In 1980, Montclair's form of government changed from a five-member commission to a seven-member council. Mochary ran for the Council, and out of 28 candidates in the nonpartisan municipal election she received the most votes, leading to her selection as Mayor of Montclair, New Jersey from 1980 to 1984.^[1]

State Republican leaders tried to recruit Mochary to run for Congress and to oppose New Jersey Senate President Carmen A. Orechio in 1983. She then emerged as a potential candidate to oppose Bill Bradley in the 1984 U.S. Senate race.^[1] After declaring her candidacy she defeated Robert Morris of Mantoloking in the Republican primary. She was soundly defeated by Bradley in the general election, losing by a margin of 64.2% to 35.2%.

Mochary later served in the United States Department of State, as Principal Deputy Legal Advisor to the Secretary of State and Special Negotiator for Real Estate. She has also served as manager and trustee of the Kasser Family Foundation, overseeing a fund with assets of $2.5 million that awards scholarships to young artists.^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "New Jersey Senate Campaign: Two Profiles in Determination". New York Times. October 31, 1984. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9B05E2D71239F932A05753C1A962948260. Retrieved 2011-10-14. "She was Mayor of Montclair, a general-practice lawyer elected to office here, once a Cub Scout den mother and president of the New Jersey Wellesley College club, a woman 'so photogenic,' according to the publisher of the local newspaper, that merchants called asking to appear in photographs with her." 
2. ^ ^{a b} "MSU's state-of-the-art theater celebrated at MSU's annual dinner", Montclair State University, May 9, 2002. Accessed June 9, 2008.

External links

• Biographical information for Mary V. Mochary from The Political Graveyard

Party political offices
Preceded by Jeffrey Bell	Republican Nominee for the U.S. Senate (Class 2) from New Jersey 1984	Succeeded by Christine Todd Whitman

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Name	Mochary, Mary V.
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Date of birth	September 2, 1942
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