from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania in 1966 and then attended Harvard Law School, receiving his J.D.
From 1969 to 1971, Degnan served as law secretary to John J. Francis, associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
The crowded field of 13 Democratic candidates included U.S. Representative James Florio, Newark Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson, New Jersey Senate President Joseph P. Merlino, U.S. Representative Robert A. Roe, and Jersey City Mayor Thomas F. X. Smith.
[6] Governor Chris Christie nominated Degnan on April 29, 2014, to succeed embattled David Samson as Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
[7] At Senate hearings in July 2014, Degnan, in regard to the Fort Lee George Washington Bridge lane closures of September 2013 said "If the lanes were closed as an act of political retribution against the mayor of Fort Lee or any other individual and not part of a legitimate traffic study, and that seems to be validated by some of the evidence, it's an outrageous misuse of office."
As one of his first tasks he toured the outdated and over capacity Port Authority Bus Terminal to plan improvements for the facility that handles 225,000 passenger-trips per day, mostly New Jerseyeans.