After graduating from the University of Notre Dame and the John Marshall Law School (now Seton Hall University School of Law), he became active in Newark city government, serving as director of purchasing from 1933 to 1942.
In that position he led a drive for development of the New Jersey Meadowlands and also worked to preserve open space by acquiring land through the state's Green Acres program.
In 1961 he briefly served in the State Department as administrator of the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs, after which time he left to work in the private sector.
In the 1972 Democratic presidential primaries, he supported Hubert H. Humphrey, who lost New Jersey by a huge margin to George McGovern.
[1] Bontempo died of cancer in 1989 at the age of 79 at his home in Florham Park, New Jersey.