Patricia Walsh Biography
Patricia A. Walsh, 48, is seeking an Assembly seat in the 13th Legislative district, which covers Middletown, Hazlet, Holmdel, Keansburg, Keyport, Union Beach, Matawan, Aberdeen and Old Bridge. Ms. Walsh was born in Red Bank in April 1958 and grew up in the home of her parents, James and Virginia Amend, an 1830’s farmhouse in Colts Neck. She graduated from Marlboro High school (Freehold Regional High School District) in 1976 and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1980.
After college, Ms. Walsh worked in the printing and publishing industry for many years with companies in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She also worked with her parents in the publication of their newspapers, The Colts Neck Calendar, The Holmdel Happenings and The Lincroft Village News which have serviced the surrounding areas for more than 36 years.
Ms. Walsh was first won election to the Middletown Board of Education in April1996, while her children were still young, seeking to improve the schools in her community. She has been re-elected four times and has served as the board’s Vice-President (2000-01) and President (2001-02). She has served on numerous board committees (Legislation, Finance, Facilities, Policy, Personnel, Student Services, Budget and Curriculum) and is now a Certificated Board Member.
For the last four years the focus of her work on the school board has been serving as a member of the NJSBA Legislative Committee and as the Monmouth County School Boards Association’s, Vice President for Legislation. She has advocated for education, improvements to NCLB, fair funding, and other school issues, both within Middletown, with her school board colleagues in Monmouth county and spending many days in Trenton lobbying lawmakers. To complement her school board duties she serves as a member of the Monmouth County Audio Visual Aids Commission.
In addition to her education advocacy, Ms. Walsh has worked actively to fight eminent domain abuse, rallying the community to fight expensive and unwanted bridge plans in River Plaza. She considers herself a community activist and is unafraid to speak out on such issues as Special Education, Public Information Access (Sunshine Law) and the environment. Ms. Walsh has worked on the Democratic campaigns in Monmouth County and Middletown,
Ms. Walsh now resides in Middletown in an historic Victorian home with her husband, Dr. Andrew Walsh, an Advanced Physics teacher at Raritan High School, Hazlet and her two sons. Her eldest son, Chris is a senior at High School South and will attend NJIT in the fall and her younger son, Alex who is a freshman at High School South. Ms. Walsh is a member of the Women’s Political Caucus, the New Jersey Jaycees and The League of Women Voters.