Marie L. Villani, a six-term Newark City Councilwoman and the first woman to win a citywide election in the state’s largest city, died on July 13. She turned 100 on July 4. Villani was appointed to fill an at-large city council seat in 1973 after her husband, Ralph A. Villani, a former Newark mayor, resigned for health reasons.
She was elected to a full term on the city council in 1974, one of four winners in a field of 25 candidates. Mayor Kenneth Gibson, who became Newark’s first Black mayor when he ousted two-term incumbent Hugh Addonizio in 1970, won a second term against State Sen. Anthony Imperiale (I-Newark).
