Raymond Bateman

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title: "Raymond Bateman" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1927-births", "2016-deaths", "republican-party-members-of-the-new-jersey-general-assembly", "republican-party-new-jersey-state-senators", "politicians-from-somerville,-new-jersey", "people-from-branchburg,-new-jersey", "united-states-army-non-commissioned-officers", "somerville-high-school-(new-jersey)-alumni", "wesleyan-university-alumni", "presidents-of-the-new-jersey-senate", "princeton-school-of-public-and-international-affairs-alumni", "united-states-army-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "20th-century-members-of-the-new-jersey-legislature", "deaths-from-pneumonia-in-new-jersey"] description: "American politician (1927–2016)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Bateman" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1927–2016) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Raymond H. Bateman
image	Raymond_Bateman.jpg
office1	President of the New Jersey Senate
term_start1	January 13, 1970
term_end1	January 11, 1972
predecessor1	Frank X. McDermott
successor1	Alfred N. Beadleston
office2	Member of the New Jersey Senate
term_start2	January 9, 1968
term_end2	January 10, 1978
preceded2	William E. Ozzard
succeeded2	John H. Ewing
constituency2	8th district (1968–1974)
16th district (1974–1978)
office3	Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the Somerset County district
term_start3	November 1958
term_end3	January 9, 1968
preceded3	William E. Ozzard
succeeded3	District eliminated
birth_date
birth_place	Somerville, New Jersey, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Morristown, New Jersey, U.S.
spouse	Joan Speer Bateman (m. ?–2003) (her death)
party	Republican
children	Five, including Christopher
residence	Branchburg Township, New Jersey
alma_mater	Wesleyan University
resting_place	North Branch Reformed Church Cemetery
::

| name = Raymond H. Bateman | image = Raymond_Bateman.jpg | image name = | office1 = President of the New Jersey Senate | term_start1 = January 13, 1970 | term_end1 = January 11, 1972 | predecessor1 = Frank X. McDermott | successor1 = Alfred N. Beadleston | office2 = Member of the New Jersey Senate | term_start2 = January 9, 1968 | term_end2 = January 10, 1978 | preceded2 = William E. Ozzard | succeeded2 = John H. Ewing | constituency2 = 8th district (1968–1974) 16th district (1974–1978) | office3 = Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the Somerset County district | term_start3 = November 1958 | term_end3 = January 9, 1968 | preceded3 = William E. Ozzard | succeeded3 = District eliminated | birth_date = | birth_place = Somerville, New Jersey, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Morristown, New Jersey, U.S. | spouse = Joan Speer Bateman (m. ?–2003) (her death) | party = Republican | relations = | children = Five, including Christopher | residence = Branchburg Township, New Jersey | alma_mater = Wesleyan University | resting_place = North Branch Reformed Church Cemetery Raymond H. "Ray" Bateman (October 29, 1927June 25, 2016) was an American politician who represented Somerset County in the New Jersey Senate in the 1960s and 1970s and was the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey in 1977. He was the father of Kip Bateman, who later occupied the same Senate district he held.

Biography

Early life, education and military service

Bateman was born on October 29, 1927, in Somerville, New Jersey and was a lifelong resident of Somerset County, where he graduated from Somerville High School in 1945. In 1946, he joined the United States Army and was stationed at the Eighth Army headquarters in Yokohama during the Occupation of Japan after World War II. In 1947, he was promoted to staff sergeant.

Political career

He served as executive director of the Republican State Committee from 1954 to 1958. He entered the New Jersey General Assembly in November 1958, serving as the lone Assemblyman from Somerset County (at the time, Assembly districts were apportioned by counties' populations) going on to serve as assistant majority leader in 1964 and majority leader in 1965. Bateman sponsored the 1962 legislation that established New Jersey's county-based community college system. He was elected to the New Jersey Senate in 1967 and was reelected in 1971 from the 8th Legislative District which consisted of all of Somerset County. He served as assistant majority leader in 1968, majority leader in 1969, and Senate president and acting governor in 1970–1972.

In 1977 Bateman won the Republican primary for Governor of New Jersey over Thomas Kean and two other candidates, but he lost in the general election to Brendan Byrne by a margin of 1,184,564 to 888,880 votes.

Bateman served as chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. He resigned after a conflict with Governor of New Jersey Donald DiFrancesco in 2001 over construction of a new arena for the New Jersey Devils in Newark and plans for the proposed Xanadu complex.

Personal life

He was married to Joan Speer Bateman until her death in 2003. They had five children: Caren, Raymond Jr. (a luger in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, died 1990), Christopher, Michael, and Joan Anne. He is buried at the North Branch Reformed Church cemetery.

References

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References

1. [https://www.newspapers.com/image/321392554/ "Army Enlistments"], ''The Daily Home News'', New Brunswick, New Jersey, April 16, 1946, page 2.
2. [https://www.newspapers.com/image/221311328/ "Somerville"], ''[[Courier News]]'', Plainfield, New Jersey, October 18, 1946, page 15.
3. [https://www.newspapers.com/image/221410487/ "Somerville"], ''Courier News'', Plainfield, New Jersey, March 21, 1947, page 22.
4. After military service, he attended [[Wesleyan University]], where he graduated in 1950, and attended the graduate program at the [[Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs]].[https://books.google.com/books?id=1ClMAAAAMAAJ ''Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey'']. J.A. Fitzgerald, 1977.
5. Goodnough, Abby. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E1DF1131F937A35756C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 "Live and Learn"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 4, 1997. Accessed January 23, 2008. 'Raymond Bateman, a former state legislator from Somerset County who sponsored the 1962 law that allowed the establishment of community colleges, said the state used to pay one-third of the colleges' budgets."
6. "Results of the General Election Held November 6, 1973". Secretary of State of New Jersey.
7. [http://governors.rutgers.edu/BTB-interview-Bateman1.htm Brendan T. Byrne Archive: Interview with Raymond H. Bateman]. [[Eagleton Institute of Politics]], January 11, 2007. Accessed March 18, 2008.
8. [[Richard Sandomir
9. Fitzgerald, Barbara. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9807E2DE143AF931A15754C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 "The Incredible Shrinking Governor"], ''The New York Times'', July 22, 2001. Accessed January 23, 2008. "And when Raymond Bateman, the chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, disagreed with Mr. DiFrancesco over his proposal for a new arena in Newark and a sprawling retail and entertainment center in the Meadowlands, Mr. Bateman offered his resignation."
10. (Summer 2003). "In Memoriam - Alumni".
11. (February 3, 1990). "Raymond Bateman, 34, former Olympian, dies.". [[Home News Tribune]].

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