Ruth Spataro helped keep South Brunswick sane.
That’s probably the most accurate statement I can make about a woman I knew for 17 years.
Ruth, who died on Sunday, was both an old-school woman-behind-the-man and a force in her own right, a school teacher and administrator at a time when the township began to undergo major changes, a woman who was a serious advocate for a town in which she spent her entire life.
Ruth kept tabs on South Brunswick schools, correctly predicting the enrollment increases that were to come and pushign the district to craft building plans that accounted for the growth. That sometimes meant larger projects and bigger price tags, but she knew taxpayers were going to have to pay one way or the other.
In many ways, she is the reason the district did so well in dealing with growth.
One thing that always struck me about Ruth was the way she would let others make her case — whether they be her husband, Joe Spataro, or advocates like Lew Schwartz, Frank Chrinko and others. Ruth would do the work, would sit with officials, but when it came time for meetings, she would remain a regal and quiet presence in the council room.
She was a remarkable woman who will be missed.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
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Hank Kalet 