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: Ron Dario, 66; rode political whirlwind 

: Once an ally, fought Menendez for mayoralty 

: Friday, July 02, 2004

: By Agustin C. Torres

: Former Republican state Assemblyman and Union City Commissioner Ronald A. Dario, 66, died Wednesday at Paul Kimble Hospital, Lakewood, following a heart attack. 

: Dario, a protégé of former North Hudson political boss William V. Musto, was a sponsor of several key state bills, including the takeover of the Jersey City school system and what would eventually become the Distressed Cities program. 

: Those who knew Dario expressed shock at his death and said they would miss a man described as loving life and who was always optimistic, even under stressful situations. Most of them were aware that over the years he had undergone two quadruple coronary bypasses and recently had a stent inserted, but said that he was still always upbeat. 

:      
: "I knew Ron when I was a firefighter and he was a good person," said Hoboken Mayor David Roberts. "My condolences go to his family." 

: 
: Jose Arango, Hudson County Republican chairman and an employee of the Jersey City Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce, recalled meeting Dario for the first time when he was paired with him by Tom Kean's gubernatorial election campaign in 1985. 

: Arango and Dario became GOP Assembly candidates for the 33rd Legislative District and won on Kean's slate. 

: "It was like a father and son relationship," said Arango. "I was 25 years old when I became an assemblyman. 

: "Ron was so energetic, emotional. I learned a lot about dealing with people from him. I was shocked when I heard he died. He was a character, a good man, and I'll miss him." 

: In his one two-year term in the Assembly, Dario's name was on several important pieces of legislation. 

: Arango said that Dario, an educator, felt it was necessary to co-sponsor the bill that took over the failing Jersey City schools. 

: While also a Union City commissioner, Dario was the driving force in getting more than $1 million in state funds to help save several hundred municipal jobs, including those in public safety. The bill he introduced was the basis for the statewide Distressed Cities program. 

: Dario and then-31st District Assemblyman Charles Catrillo, R-Jersey City, co-sponsored 1987 legislation that prevented the warehousing of empty apartments by landlords during a statewide wave of condominium conversions that saw tenants forced out of homes. Catrillo died earlier this year. 

: Born in 1937, Dario, a Hoboken native, attended Demarest High School, where he was an all-county athlete in football, basketball and baseball. He was set to play football for Arizona State University, but a rule that prevented ballplayers from marrying forced him to transfer to Wagner College in Staten Island, where he was a four-year starter. 

: The Seahawks went undefeated in 1964, winning the NCAA Division III national championship. He also married Claire Mastropierro. 

: Dario moved to Union City in 1960 and became a teacher in Hoboken after graduating from college. He caught the attention of Musto, who was the state's senior senator. Dario ran with the Union City Your Operation Uplift (YOU) team for a commission seat in 1974, defeating the Project 70 administration of Mayor William Meehan. 

: Among those YOU members were Robert Menendez, now a congressman and chairman of the House Democratic Caucus; Bruce Walter, who would one day become the county Democratic Party chairman; Abraham Antun, now the Hudson County administrator; Donald Scarinci, who is today one of the state's most influential attorneys; and Thomas V. Highton, who recently retired as Union City's superintendent of schools. 

: All these people would break from Musto after he was indicted in 1980 by a federal grand jury on racketeering charges involving a scheme to siphon federal construction funding for the city's two high schools. 

: During the YOU schism, Dario, a recreation and public properties commissioner, had part of the Mayor's Office walled off, prompting commissioners loyal to Musto to strip him of his duties. 

: The YOU rebels formed the Alliance Civic Association and lost the 1982 municipal election to Musto the day after their mentor was convicted in the state's longest federal criminal trial. Alliance then gained control of the Board of Education and Dario won his Assembly seat and took an aide: Brian P. Stack, now the city's mayor and a state assemblyman. 

: In 1986, Alliance defeated Mayor Arthur Wichert and what remained of the Musto loyalists - and this is where Dario's political problems began. 

: When it was time to swear in the victorious commission members, Dario expected to be named mayor. It was why he had given up the principal's job at Roosevelt School in Union City a few days before tenure, and why he battled to obtain state funding for the fiscally challenged city. 

: Walter and Menendez denied making any deals with Dario and there was a back room screaming match that ended with Dario in tears. With supporters chanting in the streets and City Hall, Menendez was named the city's first Cuban-American mayor and there was a split in the new administration. 

: Dario's political career ended when his ticket lost the 1990 municipal election to Alliance. 

: Menendez yesterday focused on Dario's contributions as recreation commissioner. "Ron wrote a new chapter in recreation for Union City children. It's one of his legacies that he cared greatly for kids." 

: Dario returned to Hoboken, where he had begun as a teacher, and became a physical education instructor and started a golf club and school team. 

: He retired a few years ago and moved to Manchester five years ago. 

: As a memorial, his family will start a scholarship for graduating Hoboken High School seniors, according to his son Ronald Dario Jr., an attorney. 

: Mass for Dario will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Ann's Church, Hoboken. 

: He is additionally survived by his wife, Claire; two daughters, Laurie Blake and Cheryl Conklin; two sisters, Lorraine Ryan and Carol Miller; and three grandchildren, Tyler and Conner Blake, and Abigail Conklin. 

: Leber Funeral Home, Union City, 


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