[1] In January 1949, Governor of New Jersey Alfred E. Driscoll nominated Troast as the first of the three commissioners for the newly formed Turnpike Authority.

[3] Emphasizing the need for speed in completing the project within his self-imposed two-year deadline, Troast posted a sign on his office door that read "The Turnpike Must Be Done By Nov.

"[5] In 1953, Troast won the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey and faced Robert B. Meyner, a little-known one-term former member of the New Jersey Senate who had been chosen by a Democratic Party that was largely dysfunctional and hadn't been successful in getting a candidate elected to statewide office since 1940.

Troast, with no political experience, was known principally for his chairmanship of the commission that built the $220 million New Jersey Turnpike.

He was overconfident, started too late, and let the Democrats gobble up most of the best radio and television time.... Troast suffered his roundest wallop early in October, when newspapers broke the story that Troast had asked New York's Tom Dewey to commute the sentence of Labor Extortionist Joey Fay.

According to the NJBIA, "he made so many contributions to New Jersey and its business community that Governor Richard J. Hughes called him 'Mr.

The NJBIA presents the Troast Award annually "to a public servant who has made an outstanding contribution to the State of New Jersey and its business community.