W. Cary Edwards

Who was W. Cary Edwards?

W. Cary Edwards was a New Jersey politician who served as the state's Attorney General from 1986 to 1989.

Edwards grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey and was raised Catholic by his mother, Virginia, who had converted to Roman Catholicism. His parents separated when he was 11. He and his siblings moved with their mother to East Paterson. He graduated from St. Luke's High School in Ho-Ho-Kus, later studying business administration at Seton Hall University, where he graduated in 1967. He received his law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1970 and was admitted to the New Jersey bar the same year.

Edwards married Lynn Cozzolino around 1970. In 1974 they moved to Oakland, New Jersey, and a year later Edwards was elected councilman there. In 1977 he was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly. He would serve three terms in the Assembly and be named assistant minority leader. Thomas Kean served as Edwards' mentor in the Assembly, and when Kean became Governor of New Jersey in 1982, he selected Edwards as his chief counsel.