Caren Franzini, longtime N.J. economic policy chief, dies

Caren Franzini, 57, of Lambertville, N.J., who for nearly two decades led the agency charged with spearheading economic development in New Jersey, died Wednesday, Jan. 25, at her home.

Her daughter Anna said the cause of death was breast cancer.

Mrs. Franzini was chief executive of the state Economic Development Authority from 1994 to 2012, serving governors of both parties.

"Caren was a tireless advocate for New Jersey's business community and a passionate public servant," Gov. Christie said in a statement. "She championed the revitalization of our urban centers and encouraged entrepreneurship in the Garden State."

As the agency's business incentives programs came under criticism in recent years, Mrs. Franzini defended its work. Absent "global disarmament" among states competing for the same businesses, she said in 2015, New Jersey needed to maintain an attractive program.

But she suggested that lower property and corporate business taxes were more important for businesses considering relocating. "Incentives are like the icing on the cake," she said in the interview with Rutgers' Eagleton Institute of Politics.

After retiring from the agency in 2012, she founded Franzini Consulting LLC.

Melissa Orsen, the EDA's current CEO, and Tim Lizura, president and chief operating officer, said Mrs. Franzini inspired a culture at the agency "with kindness, loyalty, enthusiasm and integrity."

In a statement, they said her legacy at the EDA included the "resurgence of cities like Camden, Trenton and Newark; the fostering of innovation, through the development of the Technology Centre of New Jersey, the Commercialization Center for Innovative Technologies and the Waterfront Technology Center at Camden; and her focus on small business and entrepreneurship."

Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) said Mrs. Franzini "was highly respected as a professional and universally admired for her accomplishments."

Caren Sue Raphel was born on Feb. 17, 1959, to Ruth and Murray Raphel. Growing up in the early 1960s in Atlantic City, where she lived in an apartment above her family's clothing store, Mrs. Franzini saw her "entire neighborhood" get "demolished with urban renewal," she said in the Rutgers interview.

"Who knew when I was 5 years old that that would have an impact on me, but I guess it really did, because I saw all the ways not to do urban economic development, and it was a major impact on me and my life," she said.

In the 1980s, Ms. Franzini graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in urban studies and gained a business degree from the Wharton School at Penn.

Following a stint at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, she began working in Trenton as an assistant state treasurer under Gov. Thomas H. Kean. Mrs. Franzini joined the EDA as deputy director in 1991 and became CEO three years later.

"Every time a new governor came in, she was subject to losing her job, but everybody wanted to keep her," her brother, Neil Raphel, said Wednesday. "She cared about the state of New Jersey. She spent her life working for the state but also being a family person."

In addition to her daughter and brother, Mrs. Franzini is survived by her husband, John; children Sarah, and Sam; and a sister, according to the EDA.

Funeral services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, at Adath Israel Congregation, 1958 Lawrenceville Rd., Lawrenceville, N.J. Burial will be private.