William J. Hughes - Personal History

Personal History

Hughes is a native and lifelong resident of southern New Jersey and graduated from Penns Grove High School in 1950. He attended Rutgers University, graduating in 1955 and earned his law degree from Rutgers Law School in 1958. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1959 and commenced practice in Ocean City; served as township solicitor for Upper Township, N.J., 1959–1961; appointed assistant prosecutor for Cape May County, N.J., 1960; reappointed as first assistant prosecutor in 1961 and served until the spring of 1970; appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to the Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, 1972.. Prior to his election to Congress in 1974, Hughes was President of the law firm of Loveland, Hughes and Garrett in Ocean City, N.J. Hughes was married in 1956 to the former Nancy L. Gibson of Moorestown, N.J. The couple has four children: Nancy Lynne, Barbara Ann Sullivan, Tama Beth and William J., Jr., and nine grandchildren. They have made their home in Ocean City, N.J. since 1961, where they are members of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.

Following his return from Panama, Hughes taught for several years at Stockton State College in Pomona, New Jersey. He remains a Visiting Distinguished Scholar of Public Policy there. His work at Stockton led to the founding of a Public Policy Center which in 2008 was named the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy. Hughes has also received honorary degrees from Rutgers University, Glassboro State (now Rowan University), Stockton College, Mount Vernon College for Women, Cumberland County College and Atlantic Cape Community College. In 1997, he was inducted into the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni.