Ruth Stevenson

Ruth E. Stevenson (1923-2014) was an American Republican Party politician who served as the New Jersey Republican State Committeewoman from Essex County and as Vice Chairwoman of the Essex County Republican Committee. She was the President of the New Jersey Federation of Republican Women, and a Delegate to the Republican National Convention is 1960, 1964 and 1972. She served as Essex GOP Vice Chair under Robert W. Kean, Andrew C. Axtell and Frederic Remington. She was appointed Clerk of the Essex County Board of Freeholders in 1969, and served for nine years as a Commissioner of the Essex County Board of Elections, appointed by the Governor. Stevenson served as a Legislative Aide to two Essex County members of the New Jersey General Assembly, Beatrice Stiles from 1960 to 1961, and Frederic Remington from 1978 to 1982. In 1961, Stevenson became a candidate for the State Assembly, but was unsuccessful. She finished 18th in a field of 31 candidates for 9 Essex County Assembly seats; with 121,590 votes, she ran about 6,000 votes behind the winner of the 9th seat, running mate C. Robert Sarcone, and about 20,000 votes behind the top votegetter. When Katherine Neuberger retired as the Republican National Committeewoman from New Jersey in 1980, Stevenson ran for the seat but lost to Noel Love Gross, the wife of former GOP State Chairman Nelson G. Gross.