Statue of Adubato Unveiled During Ceremony Monday

Goc. Chris Christie, Mayor and Senator-elect Cory Booker, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincezo and other dignitaries were at the North Ward Center Monday to dedicate a statue of the center’s founder, Steve Adubato.

“It’s an honor to have had the opportunity to serve the community,” Adubato said. “It’s humbling to be immortalized in this way. Today is a special day. I want to thank Gov. Christie, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and everyone else for being here today.”

“For me this morning to be here, it reminds me so much -- it reminds me so much of my own mom and the things that motivated her over the course of her life,” Christie said. “She loved this city and she always believed that the children in this city deserved everything that her children got in Livingston or any other children got anyplace else in the state. It's one thing to say something about it. It's another thing to actually dedicate your life to it, and you have dedicated your life to making sure that we get as close to that as we can, and we have a ways to go, but I will promise you that for as long as I'm in public life you and I will continue to be partners.”

The statue, depicting Adubato and two schoolchildren, sits near the North Ward Center, the 43-year-old nonprofit educational, recreational and job training institute.  The North Ward Center includes a preschool and a charter school, The Robert Treat Academy.

In honor of Adubato, the day was declared “Steve Adubato Day,” by Newark, Lambertville and Freehold Township. In addition, Rep. Albio Sires (D-8) and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez praised Adubato on the floor of Congress, which was memorialized in the Congressional Record. Adubato also received proclamations from the governor, the state Legislature, the Essex County Executive and the Essex County Freeholder Board.

Adubato began his career in education as a history and government teacher in the Newark public school system, where he taught for 15 years. While teaching, he obtained a master’s degree in education and completed the coursework for a doctorate in education.