Jersey City will fly flags at half-staff next week to honor late City Clerk Robert Bryne

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Jersey City will fly their flags at half-staff next week to honor the late Robert Bryne, who worked in the city clerk’s office between 1982 and 2020 and died Friday after a long illness.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

“Anyone who dealt with Jersey City over the last 30 years would have encountered Robert Byrne, and every single one of them would have left with a positive and memorable experience. For me, I have countless examples as he embraced me when I was an outside councilman first elected and taught me about government,” Mayor Steven Fulop said in a statement last night.

“He swore me in at midnight when I was first elected mayor of Jersey City. He was a self-designated counsel in my personal life as he lectured me countless times about the importance of family over politics, and he officiated my wedding at City Hall with Jaclyn. The most amazing thing is how close I felt to Robert, the same way thousands of people felt about him in Jersey City. His passing is a massive loss to Jersey City as he embodied everything special about being born and raised in Jersey City.”

He continued that his legacy will last forever, continuing that “Robert will join the ranks of the most significant in Jersey City history” and that the flags will fly half-staff in his honor next week.

The mayor also offered his thoughts and prayers to the Bryne family.

Bryne became the City Clerk in 1989 at 29 years old and retired at 60 in 2020, a career that spanned nine mayors (including three acting mayors).

In an interview with The Jersey Journal prior to retiring in 2020, Byrne calculated that he had attended more than 1,700 evening council sessions, handled 150 election day results, and has signed over 50,000 marriage licenses during his time at City Hall.

“Robert was a great City Clerk, a great dad husband and human being. Robert and I were lifelong friends who grew up two blocks from each other. We were patrol boys and altar boys at Saint Joseph’s,” recalled Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2) in an Instagram post.

“If you look up the word, integrity in the dictionary you will find a photo of him there. He still called me William not Bill because that’s the name he remembered from grammar school. In all the years I knew him he never raised his voice and never had a bad word to say about anyone. Rest in my peace, my friend.”


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1 COMMENT

  1. Robert Byrne made a lasting positive impression on many outside Jersey City as well.
    The world would be a better place if more were like Robert.
    The world is worse off without him.
    RIP my friend!!!!

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