Steven Mayer taught at several districts before being named Robbinsville's superintendent in 2009.
ROBBINSVILLE -- Steven Mayer bested several candidates for the top spot in the Robbinsville school district in 2009 after working as a teacher and administrator at several districts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
He was the type of educator who was going to rise in the ranks because of his leadership, Robbinsville's school board president, Matthew O'Grady, said.
"Without a doubt he was a natural-born leader. And anyone with his leadership skills, they're going to seek to ascend," O'Grady said. "But it was leadership grounded in educating students."
"He loved his job," O'Grady said. "He brought the goods."
Mayer, 52, was struck and killed by a vehicle Monday morning as he jogged on Robbinsville-Edinburg Road. The driver was a 17-year-old girl who attends the township's high school.
Mayer earned an elementary education degree from Messiah College, a small private school in Mechanicsburg, Pa., and began his teaching career in Harrisburg, Pa.
From there, he worked in Howell Township, Monmouth County, before serving as assistant principal at Applegarth Middle School in Monroe Township and principal at James Madison Intermediate School in Edison, Middlesex County.
Before coming to Robbinsville, Mayer was the first principal at Thomas Grover Middle School in West Windsor-Plainsboro, a position he held for eight years.
In early 2009, Mayer was one of seven Robbinsville superintendent candidates screened from a pool of 27. He then emerged as one of two finalists before being named to the post.
Mayer received his master's and doctoral degrees from Rutgers University, and his wife, Donna, is a teacher in the Robbinsville district as well.
The Mayers have three sons and live on Brookshire Drive in the township.
Mayer was active at Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro, where he was on the governing board and sometimes preached.
O'Grady said Mayer was so good a superintendent that he was in demand at other districts, and the board had succession plans in case he was hired away.
"I was not of the belief we would have him until he retired," O'Grady said. He said due to the state's salary cap on superintendents, he saw Mayer being hired at a private school or a district in Pennsylvania.
O'Grady said all of Robbinsville, and beyond, suffers from Mayer's passing -- not just the schools and his family.
"Salt of the earth, down to the core a good and passionate person -- that was Steve," O'Grady said.
"There's no replacing Steve Mayer."
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.