Eldridge Hawkins (born September 4, 1940) is an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1972 to 1978.
He graduated from Rutgers University in 1962 with a BA in Political Science and from Seton Hall Law School with a Juris Doctor degree in 1966.
[1] In 1971, Hawkins was elected to the District 11D of the New Jersey General Assembly at the age of 31, along with his running mate, Caldwell mayor Peter Stewart.
In 1973, Hawkins ran for the Assembly in the 26th District with Richard Codey and Frank J. Dodd for the New Jersey Senate, with all three winning seats.
Hawkins was the founding President of the Garden State Bar Association, NJ's Minority Bar, a member of the Essex County Ethics Committee of the Supreme Court and the recipient of many awards including being the first recipient of Seton Hall Law School's Thurgood Marshall Award His son, Eldridge Hawkins, Jr., was elected as mayor of Orange, New Jersey in 2008.