Rosemarie L. Totaro, née Garito, (June 4, 1933 – March 7, 2018) was an American Democratic Party politician who served two separate stints in the New Jersey General Assembly from the heavily-Republican Morris County-based 23rd district.
[1] Later in 1973, under a new district apportionment for the State Legislature, local Morris County Democrats were looking for a candidate to replace one of the primary election winners who had dropped out.
Totaro was selected to run on the Democratic ticket alongside Gordon MacInnes for Assembly and Stephen B. Wiley for Senate.
While the district was ancestrally Republican, the Saturday Night Massacre occurred a few days prior to the general election and all three Democrats won their seats, with MacInnes and Totaro defeating incumbent Assemblyman Albert W. Merck and attorney John H. Dorsey.
In 1982, after Barry was appointed to head the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Totaro ran as an independent candidate in the Assembly special election.