Camden City Hall named after Randy Primas

Camden’s City Hall was renamed today for the city’s first African-American mayor, Randy Primas. Civic leaders delivered kind words about Primas, who died earlier this year.

 

Primas won his first bid for elected office at 23 and became Camden’s first black mayor in 1981. He was only 31.

Councilman Frank Moran said the thing he remembers most about Primas is his smile. He said Primas’ optimism and passion for the city made him a pleasure to work with and least his colleagues could do was to name the building for him.

Moran credited Primas for initiating a lot of the growth the city is seeking today, including its medical campuses.

Primas took a second tour running Camden, as a state-appointed chief operating officer, but struggled to improve one of the nation’s poorest and most crime-ridden cities.

After leading from a young age, Primas also died young. He passed away in March at the age of 62.