New Jersey politics really isn’t the same without Gary Iacobacci of Essex County.

The former Bloomfield Councilman and political operative died of a heart attack last year, and on this, the one-year anniversary of him going away, it’s gotten a little worse without him.

I was only in the room once when I saw a guy cry in New Jersey politics.

It was Iacobacci.

He had worked on Jorge Batista’s Hillside mayoral campaign in 2017, and he was in headquarters with a small, expectant crowd as campaign manager Pablo Fonseca in the adjoining war room voraciously worked the vote totals.

It looked like Batista had won at one point, but then, as it turned out, he lost to Dahlia Vertreese by 28 votes.

Amid the downcast, crestfallen faces, Iacobacci stood listening to Batista’s concession speech with a stoic, hardened look on his face – and two tears rolled down his cheeks.

He never exchanged expression. But he felt it.

That was the thing about Iacobacci.

He knew so much, was never intimidated; and he also cared.

He cared about the campaigns he worked on and more importantly he cared about the people for whom he worked.

Everyone who thought of him today said that, and it was true.

“He was a tough cookie,” said Fonseca, who recalled his friend as a full-tilt operative, expert at all aspects of the game, with a particular vote-by-mail-talent in the late stages of his career.

“He was that guy who you needed, more than he needed you, and when he went in with someone, he went all in – not for the money, but because he was committed to the person,” said Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin.

He was so exacting in his job, state Senator Ronald L. Rice (D-28) – a United States Marine and combat veteran – once said to Iacobacci, “You were a Marine, right?”

Iacobacci told him no.

“Former military, right?”

No. Never in the service. Just meticulous. Exacting. Professional.

And all heart.

Rice still didn’t believe him.

Associated with Pete Strumolo’s campaigns in Bloomfield, he helped get First Ward Councilwoman Marie Strumolo Burke reelected in maybe his last big local hurrah in Belleville at the height of the pandemic in 2020, a grueling race he undertook after a horrific car accident in 2018 almost killed him.

At his funeral last year, a lot of people showed up who remembered him as a tough man, yes, but mostly a man a person could depend on; and more than merely another hard-nosed cynic, a friend.

Rice went to Iacobacci’s service to say goodbye. So did Governor Phil Murphy.

He affected a lot of people, and always calmly stayed out of the limelight while the winners celebrated; and suffered with them when they lost.

“He was a guy you could go to war with,” said Fonseca. “Regardless of the circumstances, no matter how hard things would get, he would protect you on both flanks.”

New Jersey feels a little more vulnerable overall without him.

Rest in peace, Gary Iacobacci. Tough tears for you. Two of them. On a face lined with the hardness of time and wisdom and work.

A year on, and you are truly missed.