Byrne's son, Tom Byrne, tells The Star-Ledger of Newark that his 85-year-old father had successful laparoscopic surgery Saturday morning.
Byrne had been suffering from side pain for days, his friends say. On the way to a birthday party for him Friday at his son's Princeton home, Byrne stopped by a hospital to get it checked out.
His gallbladder was inflamed and he was hospitalized immediately. He is recovering at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston.
On Tuesday night, Byrne took some good-natured ribbing on the eve of his 85th birthday during a fundraising roast of him.
Byrne, affectionately known as the grandfather of New Jersey politics, was governor from 1974 to 1982.
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