Lawrence F. "Pat" Kramer 

Lawrence F. "Pat" Kramer, the third Commissioner of DCA, was appointed by Governor William T. Cahill in 1971.

At the time of his appointment, Commissioner Kramer was serving his second term as Mayor of Paterson, a position to which he had been elected five years earlier as the leader of a reform movement. As mayor, he initiated numerous governmental reforms and launched a major urban development program.  Under his administration, Paterson was chosen as one of eight cities in New Jersey to participate in the Model Cities program and was later selected by President Nixon as one of only 20 Model Cities in the country to participate in a new experimental phase of the program designed to streamline the Federal grant system and give the cities greater authority and more federal funds.

In 1969, Kramer was appointed by President Nixon as one of only four mayors in the country to serve on the Advisory Council on Intergovernmental Relations.

Kramer holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Clemson University. After his service at the Department of Community Affairs, he was once again elected Mayor of Paterson.  In 1981, he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor, finishing second in the primary to Thomas H. Kean, who then went on to win the general election.