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BRIDGETON — Joseph Riley was an unusual physician who somehow found time to be involved in politics and help bring an osteopathic medical school to New Jersey, while delivering babies at all times of day and night.
Riley, 87, died Dec. 10, said daughter Celeste Riley, the Cumberland County clerk and the first woman elected to the state Legislature from New Jersey’s 3rd District, serving as an assemblywoman from 2009 until she was elected clerk in 2014.
On top of his professional work, Joe Riley and his wife, Judith, a certified nurse midwife, also raised 11 children.
A Korean Army veteran, Joe Riley went to medical school on the G.I. Bill, Celeste Riley said.
“That’s why my father was a Democrat. He believed good government could truly improve someone’s life,” she said, “and the lives of their offspring and others.”
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State Sen. Michael Testa, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, sent his condolences to the family Wednesday over the loss of the former freeholder and Cumberland County Democratic chairman.
“As a county Republican chairman, I am particularly aware of the challenges and duties Dr. Riley faced in his dual role as an elected official and political chair,” Testa wrote. “He performed his responsibilities with the calm demeanor befitting of a physician. His presence will be missed in Cumberland County.”
In the early 1960s, Joe and Judith Riley started an obstetrics practice together in Bridgeton, their daughter said.
“That’s a hard life, I’ll tell you,” Celeste Riley said. It was in the days of house calls, when no one had insurance and people paid with workman’s compensation, cash or sometimes whatever they had. He was the doctor for many factory workers and farm laborers, and when the Medicaid program came in, he was one of the doctors who accepted Medicaid patients.
Election officials in the region expect to certify the results of the Nov. 3 election Friday, the deadline for certification, they reported Thursday evening.
“My father always believed you needed to be involved,” Celeste Riley said. “It’s hard for doctors to be involved in politics, and yet they should be.”
He was elected to the freeholder board in 1968, and in the 1970s helped get a charter for the UMDNJ School of Osteopathic Medicine, now the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, Camden County. It was established in 1976 and opened to students in 1977.
Later, in 1993, Joe Riley ran for Assembly but lost. That was the year of the backlash against Democratic Gov. Joe Florio.
“He was on the ticket with Florio. I don’t think any Democrats won that year,” Celeste Riley said.
She later held that same seat in the Legislature.
While the nation waits for votes to be counted all over, Cumberland County officials are waiting for votes to be counted by the local Board of Elections.
Several of Celeste Riley’s siblings went into medicine, she said. Ann Riley Spoltore is a certified nurse midwife in Cape May, Joseph Riley is a physician who practiced for a time with his parents and now practices in South Dakota, and Judy Riley Lowe is a local family practice physician.
Joseph Riley is survived by his wife, Judith, of Greenwich Township; 11 children, 28 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. Services were private due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
