I didn't place this in BB Residents Remembered because he wasn't a resident but he was a teacher and coach at BBHS. I had him for Biology when I was a freshmen and he was the first teacher to ever give me a failing grade, maybe that's why I remember him so well.
Bernard F. Rodgers
(Asbury Park Press) (Courier News)
BERNARD F. RODGERS AGE: 86 FORMER DUNELLEN MAYOR Bernard F. Rodgers, 86, died Monday, Jan. 26, 2009, at his summer home in Spring Lake, which he owned since 1981. He was born April 5, 1922 in Hazleton, Pa. to John P. and Grace Ward Rodgers. He and his wife moved to Dunellen in 1949 and became members of St. John's Roman Catholic Church. Bernie was a graduate of St. Gabriel's High School in Hazleton, where he was an All-State athlete in basketball and football. He received a football scholarship to attend St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Md. from 1940 to 1942, at which time he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He served in the U.S. Naval Intelligence in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters during World War II. After his discharge, he completed his education at Bloomsburg State Teachers College on the G.I. Bill, earning his B.S. degree in education in 1948. Bernie began his teaching career at Bound Brook High School as a science teacher and coach from 1949 to 1965. He served as president of both the Bound Brook and Somerset County Education Associations. He earned his M.A. degree from Columbia University in 1955. He began his political career in 1951 when he was elected as a Republican to the all Democratic Council in the Borough of Dunellen, where he served for six years. Bernie was elected Mayor in 1957 and was re-elected three times serving until 1966. He served as police commissioner and a member of the Planning Board. As a liberal "Rockefeller Republican", his political activities gradually expanded beyond Dunellen to the county, district and state levels. He ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for U.S. Congress in the heavily Democratic 15th Congressional District in 1962 and 1964. He also served as chairman of the Middlesex County Republican Party and campaign manager of the Wayne Dumont gubernatorial campaign in 1966. He served as a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1964 and 1968. Bernie was a public relations executive with John Phillips Advertising, Bloomfield, Lockheed Electronics, Watchung, Gulton Industries, Metuchen, and Baker Industries, Cedar Knolls from 1964 to 1975. He also was a Commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Football League, 1964-1966. He returned to education in 1975 as president of the Empire Technical School in East Orange from which he retired in 1998. His family includes his wife, Anna V. Gulla Rodgers, whom he married June 29, 1946; three sons, Bernard F. Rodgers Jr. of Great Barrington, Mass., Gregory M. Rodgers, who died in 2006, and Timothy M. Rodgers and his wife Liz of Bound Brook; a daughter-in-law, Stephanie Rodgers of East Sandwich, Mass.; three grandchildren, Tyler Rodgers, and Lindsy and Samantha Jacob; and a sister, Cecelia Malloy of Hazleton, Pa. Friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009 at the Mundy Funeral Home, 142 Dunellen Ave., Dunellen. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 30, 2009 at St. John's R.C. Church, Dunellen. Entombment will be at Resurrection Burial Park, Piscataway.
BERNARD F. RODGERS