Former Irvington councilman celebrates nonprofit anniversary

IRVINGTON, NJ — Alan A. Siegel, formerly of Irvington, is marking his 50th anniversary as president of Clinton Cemetery Association in Irvington this summer. Elected to head the nonsectarian nonprofit cemetery company in 1972, Siegel is the 16th person to serve in that capacity since the cemetery was chartered by the state legislature in 1844. 

Siegel, whose family connections to Irvington extend back to the earliest part of the 19th century, when the area was still known as Camptown, is descended from Levi Gardner, a veteran of the War of 1812 who was one of the first persons buried in the cemetery in 1846. Since that time more than 12,000 people have been interred in the 10.- acre cemetery on Union Avenue.

Siegel served Irvington as councilman at large and township attorney in the 1980s and is the author of “Out of Our Past: A History of Irvington” and “Smile: A Picture History of Olympic Park.” He was chairperson of the township’s centennial celebration in 1974. He now resides in Somerset County with his wife, BJ, whose father, Edward J. Oleksik, served as Irvington’s chief of police for many years.

  Clinton Cemetery Association, Irvington Municipal Council