Jaffe Communications Principal Bruno Tedeschi wrote the cover story of the April issue of the Newark Regional Business Partnership newsletter.

Tedeschi covered the NRBP's annual Real Estate Market Forecast on March 2 moderated by Frank Giantomasi, a partner at the Newark law firm of Genova, Burns & Giantomasi. On the panel were: Lynier Richardson, the executive director of Brick City Development Corporation; Caren Franzini, the CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Rob Clark, vice president of development for Tucker Development Corp., Kate Coburn, a partner at HR&A Advisors Inc., Jonathan Meisel, the managing director and suburban tri-state marketing director for Jaones Lang LaSalle and Jeffery M. Schotz, executive vice president of leasing and marketing for SJP Properties.

Read the cover story.

Every month, hundreds of Americans die while waiting for a new heart, liver or kidney. What a waste — considering that thousands of healthy organs are senselessly buried in cemeteries.

Why? Some people are too lazy to sign an organ donor card. Others, unbelievably, think doctors won't work as hard to save them if their organs can be harvested. Others find a way to embrace religious objections.

Clearly, arms need to be twisted.

One group, the NJ Sharing Network, is trying to do that. The network wants New Jersey to be the first state to let health insurers refuse transplant coverage to anyone who doesn't sign an organ donor card — leaving a nondonor on the hook for the cost of transplant surgery, easily hundreds of thousands of dollars. That plan is discussed in an article that starts on the front page of this section.

This opinion-editorial by Joseph S. Roth, president and CEO of New Jersey Organ and Tissue Sharing Network, originally appeared in The Star-Ledger

Caseworkers from our organization recently went to the hospital to visit the family of a woman who suffered a stroke. The woman was dead, but machines continued to keep her organs functioning. She was an ideal candidate to be an organ donor. Her husband, it turns out, was on the waiting list to receive a heart.

Our caseworkers asked the husband if he would allow his wife's organs to be donated. The husband, to the shock of our caseworkers, said no. He simply refused. Here was a man willing to accept an organ to save his own life, but who refused to allow a family member to give the gift of life to another person.

We have experienced other such cases, including the family of a woman who received a kidney. The donation enhanced and added years to her life. Yet, when she was declared brain dead, the family refused to allow her organs to be used to save others.

Cases like this are rare, thankfully, but are nonetheless troublesome. And they point to a larger incongruity. Tell 100 people they are going blind. Then ask how many would accept a cornea transplant to see again. Nearly all would say "yes." Then ask the same people how many are registered organ donors. You will find far different numbers. For instance, just 43 percent of American adults are registered organ donors.

At NJ Sharing Network, we have watched, frustrated, as people in our state die because the organs that could save them are left unused. We are hopeful that policymakers will consider this a crisis worthy of attention — and that they see the need to educate the public and encourage all New Jerseyans to become organ donors.