American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 52nd Governor of New Jersey from 2002 until his resignation in 2004 following the revelation of his extramarital affair with a gubernatorial appointee. McGreevey’s announcement made him the first openly gay state governor in United States history.
McGreevey served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1990 to 1992, as the Mayor of Woodbridge Township from 1991 to 2002, and in the New Jersey Senate from 1994 to 1998. He was the Democratic nominee for Governor of New Jersey in 1997, but was narrowly defeated by Republican incumbent Christine Todd Whitman. He ran for governor again in 2001 and was elected by a large margin.
During his gubernatorial tenure, McGreevey—who was then married—appointed his secret lover, Israeli national Golan Cipel, as homeland security advisor despite Cipel’s lack of relevant experience or qualifications. On 12 August 2004, following threats of a lawsuit that would have exposed his affair, McGreevey publicly acknowledged his homosexuality and his extramarital relationship; he also announced that he would resign the governorship effective 15 November 2004.
McGreevey published a memoir entitled The Confession in 2006. He later pursued ordination in the Episcopal Church and obtained a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree from General Theological Seminary in New York City; however, the Episcopal Church declined to ordain him. In July 2013, McGreevey was appointed head of Jersey City’s Employment & Training Program (JCETP). He served in that capacity until his 2019 termination.
A graduate of Columbia University in 1978 with a BA degree, he earned his juris doctor degree from Georgetown University’s law school in 1981. The next year, 1982, he picked up a master’s degree in education from Harvard.
Entering government service as an assistant prosecutor, he then held a variety of political staff positions and, in 1987-1988, became a lobbyist for Merck Pharmaceutical company. In 1989, he ran a successful campaign for New Jersey state assembly but lost in 1991. He then won election as mayor of Woodbridge, New Jersey, a position he held until he became Governor in 2002. He had made one unsuccessful bid for the Governor’s office in 1997.
Inaugurated on 15 January 2002 as governor, he broke his femur two weeks later when he fell while walking on the beach. He underwent surgery and worked from his hospital room.
A congenial man, he married Kari Schutz in 1991; together they had a daughter Morag Veronica in 1992. They divorced and he re-married, this time to Dina Matos, on 7 October 2000. He and Dina welcomed their daughter Jacqueline Matos on 7 December 2001.
On 12 August 2004, with his wife and parents at his side, the Roman Catholic Governor gave an agonizing speech in which he acknowledged that he was gay and had had an extra-marital affair with a male aide while he was in office. He had reportedly assigned Golan Cipel, an Israeli poet to a $110,000-a-year state job overseeing anti-terrorism. Cipel denied that he himself was gay and sued the Governor for sexual harassment. McGreevey’s term as Governor, though short-lived, was fraught with legal and sexual drama. Neither of his wives apparently knew that he was gay until just before his public announcement.
In late 2005 McGreevey and Australian-American executive Mark O’Donnell began a relationship. The two lived in Plainfield, New Jersey.
McGreevey’s life after politics, his pursuit of the priesthood, and his ministry to prison inmates are covered in a 2013 HBO documentary film, Fall to Grace, directed by Alexandra Pelosi.
Link to Wikipedia biography