Jan Hefler writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer
His father worked for Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, a ruthless political boss who controlled Atlantic City during Prohibition, and as a child, he eavesdropped on the conversations of men who gathered around his family’s humble kitchen table in Hammonton.
Decades later, J. Garfield DeMarco rose to become the Republican party boss in nearby Burlington County.
His nickname — God. A notepad kept on his kitchen table had pages that said “Message from God.”
But it was not until he died last month at age 80 that DeMarco’s spectacular fall from grace and fortune spilled into public view
DeMarco, who built a multimillion-dollar fortune while managing the nation’s third-largest cranberry operation and sitting on the Ocean Spray board of directors, died penniless. Nearly three years ago, he was evicted from his home and his car was repossessed when he defaulted on loans, legal bills, and taxes and declared bankruptcy.
Adept at keeping secrets throughout his life, DeMarco hid his deteriorating finances, kept up the guise of a lavish lifestyle and nurtured an image that exuded business savvy and steely control.
“Garfield squandered millions and many of us got to enjoy that extravagance,” said nephew Anthony DeMarco in a eulogy before a crowd of fewer than 50 people who attended DeMarco’s Funeral Mass at St. Mary-Mt. Carmel Parish in Hammonton last month. “It was fun to eat seven courses and drink thousand-dollar bottles of wine. We would sit in the front row of a Broadway show. He had a $25,000 fountain pen. He tipped 100 percent.”
In disbelief, some in the pews shook their heads.
Garfield DeMarco had been forgotten over the years by people in power and the legions of loyal followers who revered him when he was the powerful GOP chairman from 1974 to 1990.
His nephew went on to praise “Uncle Gar” for his generosity, intellect, political skills, and devilish sense of fun. Anthony DeMarco said his grandfather had been an influential politician — switching from Democrat to Republican to Democrat — and a successful cranberry farmer whose death at age 61 in a car crash led Garfield DeMarco to take over the family business when he was 26. As CEO, DeMarco, a freshly minted Yale-educated lawyer, doubled their land holdings in South Jersey.
But the good times were followed by family squabbles. In 1994, DeMarco’s brother, Mark, a prominent attorney, sued him, alleging mismanagement of the company and excessive spending
