News
Mayor Proposes Naming Street After Daniel O'Hern Sr.
By John Burton
RED BANK - A west side residential street is likely soon to be renamed after a borough favorite son who recently passed away, according to the mayor.
Mayor Pasquale Menna said this week he is in favor of naming Locust Avenue after Daniel J. O'Hern Sr., a former mayor and state Supreme Court Justice who died in early April.
O'Hern, who was 78 when he died, was born and lived on Locust, which is west of Shrewsbury Avenue and runs west to the Swimming River, and the home remained in the family until relatively recently, when O'Hern's mother died, according to Menna.
O'Hern, a borough native, had a long and distinguished career, serving on the borough council in the 1960s, and then as a Democratic mayor, during a very turbulent time in the borough. O'Hern went on to be appointed to the state's Supreme Court by Governor Brendan T. Byrne, serving on the court until the mandatory retirement of 70. He served in numerous other state government positions, as well.
He subsequently moved to Little Silver, and was an attorney with the Becker Meisel firm's Shrewsbury office.
The borough council had been considering various options for honoring O'Hern, giving thought to dedicating the local tennis courts (he was an avid player), to the municipal court, or possibly the recently named Maple Cove, a parcel of property located at the end of Maple Avenue overlooking the Navesink River.
"This makes the most sense to me," Menna said of his proposal.
"He loved the area. That was his area," the mayor said of O'Hern's appreciation for the borough's west side.
"He would be deeply touched," Daniel J. O'Hern Jr. said of his father's response. "That area of town is an area that was very near and dear to his heart."
Menna said he hopes to propose the name change shortly and have a dedication ceremony in fairly short order.
