Stephen N. Adubato Sr., who rose to prominence as a North Ward leader in Newark in the 1960s and remained a towering figure in Newark civic life for the next five decades, has died at his home surrounded by family. He was 87. Adubato founded The North Ward Center in 1970 and went on to found the highly successful Robert Treat Academy in 1997, one of the first charter schools in the state. 

Though he was influential in Newark and state politics during his years, he always considered himself an educator first and his political activity always served to support his cause of providing services to children, families and seniors in Newark's North Ward.