William John Hughes

A Representative from New Jersey; born in Salem, Salem County, N.J., October 17, 1932; attended public schools; A.B., Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J., 1955; J.D., Rutgers Law School, Camden, N.J., 1958; admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1959 and commenced practice in Ocean City; served as township solicitor for Upper Township, N.J., 1959-1961; appointed assistant prosecutor for Cape May County, N.J., 1960; reappointed as first assistant prosecutor in 1961 and served until the spring of 1970; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1970 to the Ninety-second Congress; appointed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey to the Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, 1972; elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-fourth and to the nine succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1975-January 3, 1995); one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1986 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against Harry E. Claiborne, judge of the United States District Court for Nevada; not a candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Fourth Congress; United States Ambassador to Panama, 1995 to 1998; is a resident of Ocean City, N.J. Mr. Hughes married Nancy Gibson in 1956. She died last year. He is survived by a brother, Daniel; three daughters, Lynne Hughes, Barbara Hughes Sullivan and Tama Hughes; a son, William Jr.; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Mr. Hughes’s wife died after an eight-year battle with a progressive neurodegenerative disease, The Press of Atlantic City said in her obituary. He was her primary caregiver during that time.