Robert Eugene Littell (January 9, 1936 – November 14, 2014) was an American Republican Party politician who served as a member of the New Jersey Senate from 1990 to 2008.
[2] After nearly 40 years in the New Jersey Legislature — making him at the time the longest-serving legislator in state history (service length since surpassed by Richard Codey) — Littell announced on March 6, 2007, that he would not seek reelection as senator and would retire from office at the end of 2007.
Freeholder Steve Oroho and Assemblyman Guy R. Gregg both announced that they would pursue the Republican nomination for Littell's Senate seat in the June 2007 primary.
[5][6] During the Korean War he served three years with the United States Marine Corps and received an honorable discharge in 1956.
At the time, the president of the senate acted as governor in the event of a vacancy in that office, leading political journalist David Wildstein to speculate that Littell "maybe" assumed the governorship for "a few minutes" as well, until Bennett took the role.