Raymond Bateman

Raymond H. "Ray" Bateman (October 29, 1927 – June 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 Christopher Bateman who now occupies the same Senate district he held.

Bateman was born on October 29, 1927 in Somerville, New Jersey and was a lifelong resident of Somerset County. He graduated from Somerville High School in 1945 and Wesleyan University in 1950. He also was a veteran of the U.S. Army and attended the graduate program at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

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 1973, following the reconfiguration of all legislative districts, he was elected to serve in the Senate from the 16th District consisting of most of Somerset County and portions of Hunterdon and Morris counties.

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.

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 died on June 25, 2016 at Morristown Memorial Hospital after a shoulder break and pneumonia.