Charles Kraus
By Liz Best
BOCA RATON — Charles Kraus made a difference in his native New Jersey as a prominent Republican, banker and Bergen County roads chief. He also made a difference when he retired to the Esplanade condominiums in Boca Raton in 1978, where he served on the board of directors for 27 years, 12 of them as president.
Mr. Kraus, 96, died Feb. 10 in Boca Raton. He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Margaret.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Bogota, N.J., Mr. Kraus was a graduate of the American Institute of Banking and served on the Bogota Board of Education. He served during World War II as an ensign in the U.S. Merchant Marines. After the war ended, he returned home to resume his banking and political career.
He was elected to the New Jersey State Assembly in 1953 and was instrumental in establishing Bergen Community College. By 1958, he was appointed Bergen County’s roads chief and was instrumental in building the Bergen-Passaic Expressway.
He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1956, 1960 and 1964, and managed Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign in Bergen County in 1960. He was an instructor at the American Institute of Banking, the New Jersey Savings Institute of Education and the Dale Carnegie Institute.
Mr. Kraus is survived by three daughters, Peggy Ann Calitre of Ramsey, N.J., Barbara Katherine Vasell of Mount Laurel, N.J., and Susan Gallitano of Sagamore Beach, Mass.; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
A funeral Mass was held Feb. 18 at Most Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church in Franklin Lakes, N.J. Burial followed at Christ the King Cemetery in Franklin Lakes. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations, in Charles and Margaret’s memory, be made to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 101 Academy Drive, Buzzards Bay, MA 02532-1803, or to Hospice of Palm Beach County, 5300 East Ave., West Palm Beach, FL 33407.
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