Governor Christie issued an executive order today ordering all State buildings to fly flags at half-staff on Tuesday, September 29, 2015 in recognition of the life and in mourning of the passing of Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra, a World War II veteran, Major League baseball player, coach, philosopher, and longtime resident of Montclair, New Jersey.

In 1943, Yogi Berra traded his minor league baseball uniform for a Navy uniform and bravely defended our country as a machine gunner on the USS Bayfield during the D-Day invasion at Normandy. Yogi Berra made his Major League Baseball debut for the New York Yankees in 1946. Throughout his distinguished career, he won ten World Series Championships while playing for the Yankees, appeared in fifteen All-Star Games, and won three American League Most Valuable Player awards. Yogi Berra earned an honorary doctorate from Montclair State University, which is also the site of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, as well as Yogi Berra Stadium.

“Yogi Berra was a national treasure and a baseball legend. Yogi’s achievements as a catcher, clutch hitter, manager and coach have inspired generations of ballplayers. His military service and his service to New Jersey, especially the sportsmanship programming he brought to the Little Falls museum that bears his name, are sterling examples of his citizenship,” said Governor Christie. “Yogi’s lasting legacy is how he lived his life: as a family man and a Yankee, with warm humor, unpretentiousness and integrity. On behalf of the people of New Jersey, Mary Pat and I extend our heartfelt condolences and prayers to the Berra family.”

[TLS]