Honorees

John and Sheila Fuhrmann epitomize dedication to Middlesex Borough. They will be honored for their years of service to the community at the Borough Council’s April 23 meeting.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Ronald S. Dobies municipal building on Mountain Avenue.

Both have long resumes of community involvement. John Fuhrmann is a former mayor and longtime Board of Adjustment member. Sheila Fuhrmann served as director of senior services and as a Board of Education member. Both will receive Middlesex’s initial Pillars of the Community recognition.

Going forward, the intent of Mayor Jack Mikolajczyk and the Borough Council is to bestow that honor on a recipient or recipients at the governing body’s second meeting of each month.

“It was an easy choice,” MIkolajczyk said of the Furhmanns being named the initial honorees.

The awards are part of an effort to promote volunteerism and thank those who have long records of community service, the mayor said.

John Fuhrmann was a councilman for nine years, twice serving as council president. He served as mayor for nine months in 2009, after being appointed to the post when Gerald D’Angelo resigned.

Fuhrmann’s record of community involvement stretches back to the 1960s when he was a member of the Middlesex Jaycees, serving as president in 1968-69. He was a member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment for 12 years, serving as chairman several times. Fuhrmann also served three years on the Planning Board.

An active Democratic Party member, Furhmann served on numerous campaign committees as the 4th District committeeman.

Fuhrmann chaired the committee that secured a $7 million grant to construct the Watchung Terrace senior housing complex, plus $300,000 annually to subsidize rents for every low-income residents.

He was also a member of the Parks and Field Development Committee for several years, an OLMV Church CYO advisor when the group had a Sunday newspaper stand as a fundraiser, and helped the local American Legion Post organize its Memorial Day parade for several years.

Fuhrmann served as master of ceremonies at many municipal functions over the years, including Miss Bicentennial in 1976.

Sheila Fuhrmann is a former Board of Education member, serving six years as its vice president. Like her husband, she was a Zoning Board of Adjustment member, serving for nine years.

Sheila Fuhrmann served on the Planning Board for seven years and the Board of Health for six years. She was a founding member of the Blue Jay Booster Club, circa 1976, and a Democratic county committeewoman.

A longtime member of the League of Women Voters, she served as Voter Service chair, edited “This is Middlesex, A Know Your Town Book,” and held the posts of LWV president and vice president.

Sheila Fuhrmann was a Girl Scout Leader for Cadette, Brownie and Junior Troops and served as referral and recruitment chair. She was a member of the CYO adult advisory board and a high school CCD teacher.

She has also volunteered with the Feeding Hands Food Pantry and the Friends of the Middlesex Library 

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