As a proud Polonian, former Senator Raymond J Lesniak served in the New Jersey State Assembly from 1978 to 1983 and in the State Senate from 1983 to January 2018. Senator Lesniak, whose grandparents were born in Godowa, Poland near the Ukraine border, is the president of the Lesniak Institute for American Leadership at Kean University which is training the next generation of American Leaders through building capacity for advocacy.
Senator Lesniak recently led a humanitarian mission in Poland to provide relief to over 750 Ukrainian orphan refugees in Ossa and Frombork where the children are housed in makeshift orphanages that are temporary safe havens to protect established in response to the tragedy created by the war. The mission was philanthropic and politically productive in conversations discussing the future of these vulnerable children.
During his legislative tenure, Senator Lesniak sponsored the most significant environmental protection laws in the nation, abolished New Jersey’s death penalty and eliminated mass incarceration by repealing mandatory minimum sentences and expanding eligibility for treatment in place of incarceration for drug offenders.
In 2008, Senator Lesniak had the honor of being Grand Marshal of the Pulaski Parade in New York City. In 2009, Senator Lesniak won the Memorial de Caen International Human Rights Competition in Normandy, France.
Senator Lesniak has authored four books: Cultivating Justice in the Garden State: My Life in the Colorful World of New Jersey Politics with foreword by Bill Clinton; The Road To Abolition: How New Jersey Abolished The Death Penalty; What’s Love Got to Do With It: The Case for Same Sex Marriage and Beating The Odds: The Epic Battle That Brought Legal Sports Betting Across America.