MORNOE — Resident Leonard Baskin is filling the remaining term of former Councilman Blaise Dipierro.
The Township Council unanimously appointed Baskin on July 5 to fill the Ward 2 seat vacated by Dipierro, who had held the position since January 2016 when it was vacated by Mayor Gerald Tamburro, who became mayor.
Dipierro retired and moved to Florida. When he became councilman, he had followed in the footsteps of his father, Michael Dipierro, who previously served as a Ward 2 Councilman and mayor, according to the statement.
Baskin, a resident of the Stonebridge active adult community, was one of three nominations put forth by the Monroe Township Democratic Organization.
“This was the right choice for the township at this time,” Tamburro said in a prepared statement. “We expect Councilman Baskin will bring a combination of his scientific expertise and thorough knowledge of the community to benefit all Monroe residents.”
Baskin received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and later earned his doctorate in biochemistry from John Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Baskin taught at Stevens Institute of Technology, and conducted medical research at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the Veterans Assistance Medical Center in Brooklyn, according to the statement.
He is one of the founding members and president of The Friends of the Monroe Community Garden.
He has been a member of the Monroe Shade Tree Commission and the mayor’s Senior Advisory Committee, the East Windsor Planning Board and Parsippany’s Safety Committee and Citizens Advisory Council.
He currently serves as a substitute teacher and science tutor.
Following his appointment, Baskin praised the township for its fiscal management, its record on safety, as well the administration and council’s cooperative role within the community.
“I can attest from personal experience, as president of The Friends of the Monroe Township Community Garden, to the way the township administration responds to resident requests and proposals after due diligence,” Baskin said at the meeting. “The success of the garden, in such a short time, with over 150 gardeners, speaks for itself.”
Baskin will serve out the unexpired 2017 term for Dipierro, and run for the Council’s Ward 2 full four-year term this November.
