tonight State officials and residents alike continue to mourn the loss of a trailblazing political leader lieutenant governor Sheila Oliver died Tuesday at the age of 71 after battling an undisclosed medical condition Oliver made history as the first black woman to lead the State Assembly after serving in the legislature for more than a decade and dedicating her life to Public Service a senior political correspondent David Cruz reports despite rising to such prominent roles Oliver never forgot her roots if you can understand the challenges of being a woman let alone a woman of color in New Jersey politics lieutenant governor Sheila Oliver knew it well because she lived it traversing the treacherous Waters of Newark East Orange and Essex County politics fighting the party line winning with the party line making friends of foes by standing on principle and projecting a dignity and passion even in political battle diplomacy and grit the Newark came out right she knew how to play her politics she was definitely a lady amongst all ladies but she knew her politics she knew how to navigate shark infested waters with Grace and gravitas and was able to successfully steer two terms right as speaker and Ascend to the lieutenant governor position Sumpter is just one of the many who are remembering Sheila Oliver today the self-described newer girl whose personal traits of generosity empathy and fierce determination inspired Sumter and many others to hold true to those ideals and still succeed Republican senator John bramnik served in the assembly while Oliver was speaker during the Chris Christie years let me tell you I don't think he was afraid of Steve Sweeney I mean they could go toe-to-toe but I think he would be afraid of Sheila the speaker because with her yelling screaming demanding or threatening was not a path to get to Sheila Oliver but if you messed with her as her party once did when they tried to oust her as Speaker you would meet the girl from Newark I will never ever engage in the kind of subversive clandestine black back door manipulation that is going on right now she had a supreme confidence born of Hard Knocks and a focus on service those who thought she was done after she left the assembly watched as she made history again as the first black woman to serve in Statewide office when she was elected lieutenant governor ironically David it just has seemed as if it's a natural progression from everything I've ever done people ask me if I'm excited people ask me if I'm overwhelmed it just is an extension of what I have always done she was the conscience of uh the state of New Jersey uh the spirit of Essex County uh you know the Beloved uh you know daughter of East Orange and um you know and a true friend to me and so many others the LG was coming up at a time where oftentimes she was the only one in the room as as um overcome as I am with grief I am just have a debt of gratitude for everything that she did when she was alone in those spaces or when they underestimated her value or when they asked her and required her to prove her worth over and over again and she did so with Grace with Integrity with dignity and then showed them all out and we dropped the mic at the end of every opportunity that she had former Senator Republican Diane Allen faced off against Oliver in a lieutenant Governor's debate back in 2021 a Face-Off which ended like this and that moment at the end I don't know it just because of all those years that we'd known each other and the fact that we'd made it through the debate without uh tearing each other apart and I don't think either of us wanted to or we're looking for that that hug just kind of happened and um I think it says a lot when strong women from two different backgrounds two different parties two different races that we could get together nonetheless even after that kind of uh kind of debate we are measured especially those in public Life by things we accomplish by that metric the former Freeholder assembly speaker and lieutenant governor is a giant Sheila Oliver was 71 years old I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight news