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Michael Aron, a legendary Garden State journalist who served as senior political correspondent for New Jersey Network News, died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 78.
Aron was long considered the dean of the press corps at the Statehouse in Trenton, with a career that spanned more than 40 years of New Jersey political history. During his tenure at NJN, he covered every New Jersey governor from the late Gov. Brendan Byrne to Gov. Phil Murphy. When he retired in 2020, Aron was the longtime host of “Reporter’s Roundtable,” and he continued to be a regular guest on the program until this year.
As Aron prepared to say goodbye and retire in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, longtime NorthJersey.com political columnist Charles Stile described his stint as a journalist covering New Jersey politics as “a rich, colorful career as a tough but relentlessly unbiased interpreter of New Jersey’s dirty, crazy and corrupt political life for nearly 40 years.”
Stile recalled Aron’s leadership of the Trenton press corps on Tuesday.
“Michael was our leader,” Stile said. “He was an old-fashioned, ink-stained scribbler who held a microphone and recorded everything on camera. His work ethic was phenomenal. Every day he spent with a pad and pen in a corruption trial or hanging around the halls of the Statehouse until the wee hours of the morning during budget negotiations, working harder than reporters half his age. And he was a patient, generous host of the Reporter’s Roundtable, giving young reporters a platform to shine or occasionally stumble. His death is a great loss for New Jersey.”
In 2020, Stile asked Aron if he planned to write his memoirs in retirement. Aron, who had seen it all in Garden State politics, was quick to joke.
“If I told stories about Dick Codey and George Norcross, it probably wouldn’t resonate,” he told Stile, referring to two bitter rivals: Codey, who served as interim governor for 15 months, and Norcross, the Democratic Party’s front-runner from Camden County.
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NorthJersey.com columnist Mike Kelly remembered Aron.
“Michael was one of the most creative journalists I know,” Kelly said. “I first met him when he edited New Jersey Monthly Magazine and was impressed by how much he loved to delve into stories. No matter what the topic, he always had deep and insightful questions. But I discovered that his greatest gift was his innate ability to listen. Whether it was a group of powerful politicians or ordinary people he passed on the street, Michael wanted to hear what they had to say.”
Aron’s colleagues at NJ PBS and NJ Spotlight mourned his loss Tuesday.
“Few journalists have ever received the respect that Michael Aron received,” said Neal Shapiro, president and CEO of WNET Group. “He earned it with his unbiased, methodical and unflinching investigative style in examining the issues, policies and stakeholders that affect the state’s residents. He was one of a kind and will be missed; however, his standards and practices live on in the NJ Spotlight News newsroom and continue to inspire our staff today.”
Governor Phil Murphy issued a statement expressing condolences to the Aron family.
“For nearly four decades, Michael Trenton put the spotlight on New Jersey and informed the people of New Jersey about the latest developments in our state government,” Murphy said. “He was a local media legend… highly valued and respected by politicians across the political spectrum.”
Aron was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in New Jersey Journalism at the Corporation for New Jersey Local Media’s inaugural Byrne Kean Dinner in 2021 and the League of Municipalities’ Distinguished Public Service Award in 2015, NJ PBS said.
Before joining NJN, Aaron was an editor at New Jersey Monthly. He has also served as an editor at Harper’s and Rolling Stone.
Aron, a graduate of Harvard and Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, lived in Montclair.
