Joanne Hamilton Rajoppi – trailblazing public servant, historian, author, and beloved mother, grandmother, and sister – died on July 16, 2026, at the age of 78. A longtime resident of Union, New Jersey, a town which she always considered home, Joanne lived most recently in Westfield and Avon-by-the-Sea.
Over a career in public life spanning more than five decades, Joanne became a fixture of Union County government and a pioneer for women in New Jersey politics: the first woman elected Mayor of Springfield, the first woman to chair the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the first woman to serve as New Jersey’s Assistant Secretary of State, and the first woman in the county’s history to serve as Union County Register of Deeds and Mortgages and, for more than thirty years, as Union County Clerk. Yet those who knew her understood that her legacy was never about being first – it was about opening doors for those who would follow.
Born on Christmas Day, December 25, 1947, in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, to Raleigh Rajoppi, an influential labor leader, and Mildred Rajoppi, who was active in Democratic politics, Joanne inherited both her father’s devotion to working people and her mother’s belief in civic life. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Case Western Reserve University and received a master’s degree in public administration from Seton Hall University.
She began her professional life as a staff writer for the Newark Evening News, where she helped lead the movement to unionize the newsroom in 1971 – an early sign of the conviction that would define her career. At 24, she won her first election, to the Springfield Board of Education, later serving as its president. She was elected to the Springfield Township Committee in 1975 and became Mayor in 1977, then served as a Union County Freeholder and as the board’s first woman Chair. In 1981, Governor Brendan Byrne appointed her Assistant Secretary of State, where she helped oversee the recount of the closest gubernatorial election in New Jersey history. She served twelve years as Union County Register of Deeds and Mortgages before her election as Union County Clerk in 1995, an office she held – and modernized – until her death, earning re-election time and again as one of the most trusted vote-getters in county history. She was known nationally as an expert on election administration, serving as president of the International Association of Clerks, Recorders, Election Officials and Treasurers, and she taught public administration for eighteen years as an adjunct lecturer at Rutgers University.
A devoted historian, Joanne authored Women in Office: Getting There and Staying There, a nationally recognized guide for women entering public life, as well as New Brunswick and the Civil War: The Brunswick Boys in the Great Rebellion and Northern Women in the Aftermath of the Civil War, which chronicled her own family’s story through the letters of her great-grandfather and the lives of the Hamilton women. She served as a trustee of the Union County Historical Society. Away from public life, Joanne’s joys were constant ones: time with her family, exercise, and the patient work of genealogy – tracing the generations that came before her and giving their stories new life. Above all, she loved to write. From her early bylines at the Newark Evening News to the books she published across the decades, the written word was her lifelong companion – her way of preserving history, honoring the people she came from, and leaving something lasting for those who follow. Joanne loved sharing these stories with her beloved grandchildren, who delighted in learning about their grandmother and their family’s history.
At the center of it all was Joanne’s Catholic faith, which she lived most fully through her devotion to the poor and the sick. She was invested as a Dame of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, embracing the Order’s ancient mission of service to the sick and the poor – including its Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem, where mothers in the Holy Land receive care regardless of religion, ethnicity, or ability to pay. That vocation is now carried on by her eldest son, Peter-Anthony, a Knight of the same Order.
Nothing made Joanne prouder than watching her sons follow her into lives of public service: Andrew as a Sheriff’s Officer in Union County, New Jersey – the very county their mother served for so many decades – and Peter-Anthony as Director of Intellectual Property Policy for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee under Senator Thom Tillis. Peter-Anthony was recently nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Joanne is survived by her sons, Peter-Anthony Pappas of Virginia and Andrew Leigh Pappas and his wife, Jacqueline, of New Jersey; her three cherished grandchildren, Arriana, Anthony, and Alena; and her sister, Carol Levitsky. She was predeceased by her parents, Raleigh and Mildred Rajoppi.
Her sons invite all who knew Joanne to join them in celebrating her life. A funeral wake will be held on Friday, July 24, 2026, from 4:00 to 8:00 PM, and a funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, July 25, 2026, at 10:00 AM, with burial to follow. The wake, Mass, and burial will all be held at St. Rose of Lima Church, 50 Short Hills Avenue, Short Hills, New Jersey.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Joanne’s memory to either of two charities that meant a great deal to her: the Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem Foundation (birthplaceofhope.org) or Covenant House New Jersey (covenanthousenj.org). For more information please visit jacobhollefuneralhome.com.
