Leanna Brown
Leanna Brown (May 11, 1935 – December 15, 2016) was an American politician who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature, where she represented New Jersey's 26th legislative district, including parts of Morris and Passaic Counties. She was the first Republican woman elected to the New Jersey Senate. Career. Brown was born Leanna Cawley Young in Providence, Rhode Island. Her father was a partner at the New York brokerage firm of Blyth, Eastman Dillon & Co. She attended the Northfield School for Girls (now part of Northfield Mount Hermon School) in Gill, Massachusetts, graduating in 1952. She  graduated from Smith College in 1956. Career. Brown spent four years writing test questions for Educational Testing Service outside Princeton, New Jersey before the birth of their two sons. She became active in local politics, serving on the Chatham Borough Council from 1969 to 1972. In 1972, she was elected to serve on the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders. She was named freeholder director in 1976 and president of the New Jersey Association of Counties in 1978. In 1980, she won a special election to an unexpired term in the New Jersey General Assembly, and she was re-elected  the following year. In 1983, she challenged her former running-mate, James P. Vreeland, for the Republican nomination for State Senate in the 26th district. She won the primary in what the "Philadelphia Daily News" described as a "stunning upset" and was elected to the State Senate, becoming the first woman from the Republican Party to serve in the upper house of the State Legislature. In 1989 she formed an exploratory committee to consider a run for governor of New Jersey. She ultimately decided against running in the Republican primary, which was won by Jim Courter. In 1993, Brown resigned  from the State Senate when she was appointed to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, initially to serve out the unexpired term of Charles J. Irwin. Assemblymember Robert Martin was chosen to fill Brown's vacancy in the Senate. The following year she was named by Governor Christine Todd Whitman to a full five-year term on the Commission, serving until 1999. Brown and her husband founded Brown Global Enterprises, a small consulting firm. In 2001, she volunteered to work on the transition team for President George W. Bush. In May 2007, she was appointed by Bush to serve on  the President's Commission on White House Fellowships. Personal life. After graduating from Smith, Brown married William Stanley Brown, who had attended the Mount Hermon School and Yale University and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs. Brown and her husband were longtime residents of Chatham Borough, New Jersey. Stan died on January 16, 2013. Brown lived in Morristown, New Jersey and had two sons, four grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter. She died on December 15, 2016, at her son's home in Lebanon, New Jersey after a short illness.