By Karen Wall, Patch Staff

BRICK, NJ — Friends and family are mourning the death of Salena Carroll Lesniak, wife of former state senator Raymond Lesniak, who died Wednesday.

Salena Lesniak was 43, the New Jersey Globe reported. The couple had been partners for 20 years before marrying in 2018, and she died at the couple’s home in Ocean County, the report said. The Lesniaks have a home in Brick Township, according to property records; it was at that home where she died, Patch has learned. 

Salena Lesniak had been chairman of the New Jersey Civil Rights Commission, and had led the Bureau of Domestic Preparedness in Union County’s Office of Emergency Management, and was the special assistant to the Union County manager, the Globe report said.

Gov. Phil Murphy issued a statement announcing her death Wednesday afternoon, saying, “Salena was a class act and, along with Ray, a tireless advocate for countless New Jerseyans who needed a champion.”

“If a life is to be measured by the positive impact it had on others, Salena led a full life, indeed,” Murphy said. “Tammy and I send our warmest thoughts to Senator Lesniak and all who held Salena dear.”Subscribe

Raymond Lesniak, 73, served as a state senator for New Jersey’s 20th District from June 1983 through December 2018. He ran for the Democratic nomination for governor against Murphy, John Wisniewski, and Jim Johnson but finished fourth in the primary. 

Further information was not immediately available.