Legendary local leader and history-making public servant of distinction former Newark City Council President Mildred C. Crump has died.
She was 86.
Councilwoman from 1994-1998, and again from 2006-2021, Mildred Crump was the first Black woman to serve on the city’s governing body, defeating Donald Tucker in a 1994 runoff election. She would serve on the council during the times of Mayors Sharpe James, Cory Booker, and Ras Baraka. A graduate of Rutgers-Newark with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, the Honorable Ms. Crump was New Jersey’s first African-American Braille teacher. In 2020, the New Jersey State League of Municipalities inducted Ms. Crump into its Hall of Fame.
Her son, Larry Crump, serves as an at-large councilman in Newark. He posted the following on Facebook this morning: “After 31 years, my mother has reunited with the love of her life…She loved doing what she did. Being a public servant for the people.”
He also shared this visual of his mother with an official statement from the Crump Family:
And her daughter, Sage Crump, posted this:
“A redwood has fallen in the forest.
“Early this morning my mother Mildred Joyce Coleman Crump, first of so many things, became a most treasured ancestor. She understood her assignment and lived a life of purpose, rigorous, community , faith and love. A testament to how she showed up is that EVERY SINGLE PERSON, my brother Larry Crump and I have talked to this morning said “What can I do?” To say she will be missed is like saying water is wet and fatback makes greens delicious (Ask me about our Thanksgiving cooking squabbles). As in life, I know she will take her duty as a ancestor seriously and she likes to be busy so feel free to call on her. We are grateful to have shared her with so many and that will not change now.”
A former chief-of-staff to his mother, Larry Crump in 2022 told InsiderNJ that he learned the tough local political trade going back to when his mother first won her council seat in 1994. “We do the best we can to help, and I’ve helped people who have called me every name but the son of God,” CLarry rump said with a laugh. “Some people yelling do need the help, and no matter what side of the election you’re on, you help. I learned that from my mother. Many times the same people who yelled at her and cursed her out, came up to office and asked for money or assistance.”
Pictured above: Honored by the Democratic State Committee with The Trailblazer Award, Newark Council President Mildred C. Crump (center) celebrated with, from left: T. Missy Balmir, Sherryl Gordon Hall, Truscha Quatrone, and Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-15).
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