Bernard F. Kenny, Jr. was sworn into the Senate on January 25, 1993, after being selected earlier in the month by Democratic Committee members of the 33rd district to fill the vacancy created when Senator Robert Menendez resigned following his election to Congress. Mr. Kenny was elected to a full term in November off 1993, and reelected in 1997, 2001, and 2003. He served as Senate Majority Leader and served on the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. Mr. Kenny was a member of the General Assembly from 1987 to 1993.

In the Senate, he sponsored two laws, the Water Supply Public/Private Contracting Act, and the County and Municipal Water Supply Act, which makes it possible for municipalities to enter into public/private water utility agreements. He sponsored the legislation which conforms the State’s trademark law and application procedures with federal law. He also sponsored a law providing for interstate banking and a law giving gross income exclusions for certain savings in Roth IRAs.

The Senator was a member of the New Jersey Sports History Commission and served on the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. Senator Kenny also served on the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards, and was a member of the Legislative Services Commission and the State House Commission.

From 1983 to 1987, Mr. Kenny was counsel to the state division of the American Cancer Society. He served, at the appointment of the Supreme Court, on the District VI Ethics Committee which reviewed complaints against lawyers, from 1985 to 1988. Mr. Kenny served as a member of the board of trustees of Jersey City Medical Center. In the April 2003 issue of the New Jersey Monthly Magazine, Senator Kenny was named, “Most Trusted by Fellow Legislators.”

Mr. Kenny was born in Jersey City on November 17, 1946. He attended Delbarton School in Morristown and the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1968. He received his law degree at Fordham University in 1976, the year of his admission to the bar. He is a partner with the law firm of Florio Kenny Raval, L.L.P.

The Senator served in the Navy, from 1968 to 1971, aboard the U.S.S. Laffey.

Senator Kenny married the former Roberta Riccio in 1981. Their children are Alessandra, born in 1982; Bernard F. Kenny III, 1983; and Francis, 1987.