Martha Bark (née Whitmer; July 30, 1928 – May 1, 2015)[1] was an American Republican Party politician, who served in the New Jersey State Senate from 1997 to 2008, where she represented the 8th Legislative District.
[2][3] Prior to her state legislative career, Bark was an executive with the Curtis-Young Corporation and a parole counselor at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility.
[2] In 1995, incumbent 8th District Assemblyman Harold L. Colburn, Jr. resigned to become the medical director of the Board of Medical Examiners (a division of the State Division of Consumer Affairs), Bark was unanimously chosen by the local county Republican Committees to fill his seat.
[4] After winning re-election to the Assembly in the 1995 general election, Bark was appointed to the State Senate on January 14, 1997 to succeed C. William Haines who died of cancer on December 18, 1996.
[3][5] The same year, she won election to a full term in the Senate while choosing not to run for re-election to the Freeholder Board.