New Jersey begins a 3-day celebration honoring Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver

For the next three days, the Garden State will celebrate the life of its first Black lieutenant governor, Sheila Y. Oliver.

Oliver passed away Aug. 1 at age 71 after being hospitalized the day before. Officials haven’t disclosed a cause of death.

Oliver will be escorted to the State House Rotunda at 125 W. State St. in Trenton Thursday morning by the State Police Honor Guard, where she will lie in state for the day.

The public will be allowed to pay their respects from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

On Friday, Oliver will be escorted to the Essex County Historic Courthouse in Newark, where New Jerseyeans can offer their tributes between 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The official state funeral and memorial service will take place on Saturday in Newark at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The Archdiocese of Newark will live stream the service starting at 10 a.m.

“As we come together in shared mourning over the loss of our family member and friend Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, we will remember the legacy she leaves behind as a changemaker and trailblazer,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement. “Together, we will honor and celebrate her remarkable contributions to the state she loved, recognizing the profound impact she had on the millions of people who call New Jersey home.”

In lieu of flowers, the Oliver family is asking donations be made to the Sheila Y. Oliver Civic Association, an organization founded in 2019 that educates and develops young women of color interested in government, public policy, and community organizing. Donations can be mailed to Sheila Y. Oliver Civic Association, c/o Genova Burns LLC, 494 Broad Street, 5th Floor, Newark, NJ 07102