George E. Norcross III is an American businessman and a Democratic Party organiser and power broker in New Jersey. Norcross is executive chairman of Conner Strong & Buckelew, an insurance brokerage firm. He is chairman of the board of trustees for Cooper University Health Care System and Cooper University Hospital both in Camden, New Jersey, and has served as a trustee since 1990. He led the effort to create the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and to partner with MD Anderson Cancer Center to create the MD Anderson Cooper Cancer Center, which opened in 2013. Norcross has been a prominent political leader in New Jersey for more than 30 years, since before he became chairman of the Camden County Democratic Committee in 1989, a position he held until 1993. For many years, he has been named one of the most powerful non-elected political figures in New Jersey by the website PolitickerNJ.com. From 2014 through 2019, he was named one of New Jersey's most powerful people by NJBiz.com. He is regarded as New Jersey's most powerful unelected leader. Norcross is a member of the Democratic National Committee. He also belongs to Mar-a-Lago, the club owned by United States President Donald Trump.
Early life
Norcross was born on March 16, 1956, in Cooper University Hospital, Camden, New Jersey. He is the son of George E. Norcross, Jr., the president of the AFL-CIOCentral Labor Union of Camden and Gloucester Counties and his wife, Anne Carol. George Norcross, Jr. was active in the community of Camden and a board member of Cooper University Hospital. He served on the board of and was the chairman of United Way. His mother, Carol, died at the age of 84 in 2016. She was remembered as "a tireless advocate for senior citizens." Norcross graduated from Pennsauken High School and briefly attended Rutgers University-Camden. He has three brothers: Donald, a United States Congressman representing New Jersey's 1st congressional district; Philip, managing partner of the law firm Parker McCay; and John, a psychologist, author, and professor at the University of Scranton.
Career
Insurance
Norcross is the executive chairman of brokerage firm Conner Strong & Buckelew, where he has worked since 1979. Norcross was named the second most powerful man in the New Jersey business world by NJBiz.com in 2014, 2015, and 2016, and made the list's top five in 2017, 2018, and 2019. In September 2015, Norcross was announced as one of the local investors in The Camden Waterfront, a $1 billion development on Camden's waterfront initially developed by Liberty Property Trust and designed by Robert A.M. Stern. Norcross said he would invest $50 million in the project, and in March 2017, Norcross announced his company would move to the Camden waterfront as part of a $245 million development. The 18-story, 394,164 square-foot building will also house The Michaels Organization, NFI, and two new restaurants spearheaded by Philadelphia celebrity chef Michael Schulson.
Norcross is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cooper University Health Care System and Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey and has served as a trustee since 1990. Norcross launched the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, which New Jersey Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts praised for its "unflagging commitment to the city," and helped to facilitate the opening of the MD Anderson Cooper Cancer Center in October 2013. In the wake of the Veterans Health Administration scandal of 2014, Cooper announced a "Veterans VIP Priority Program" that provided day care to veterans in New Jersey's seven southern counties. In November 2014, Cooper and Norcross were awarded the "Seven Seals" award by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve in recognition of the program. In February 2012, Norcross penned an op-ed in the Courier-Post that called for the merger of Rowan University and Rutgers-Camden, positing it could be a "catalyst for the kind of renaissance that could make South Jersey an epicenter of intellectual and economic success for decades." In June that year, the state approved the partnership.
Criticism
The office of the Attorney General of New Jersey and the United States Attorney's office under Chris Christie investigated Norcross after he was secretly taped discussing state politics. After thorough investigations and significant media coverage, he was not charged. Norcross was also the subject of a federal investigation in 2016 where his phones were wiretapped. The wiretapping ended quickly, however, after it became clear that neither Norcross nor the people with whom he works or associates did anything wrong or untoward and was given a clean bill of health. Norcross has been associated with businesses that received special treatment from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. An investigative task force was formed to look into the operations and procedures of the EDA. Norcross's law firm sued the State of New Jersey to try stop the highly critical report from becoming public. After a five-hour court hearing about the injunction, Norcross lost and within minutes, the report was made public.
Personal life
Norcross lives in Camden, New Jersey, and has a daughter, Lexie, and a son, Alex.. Norcross was listed as one of the state's wealthiest people, ranked 41st in New Jersey in 2015 with a net worth of almost $250 million.
