It was fitting, somehow, that those remarks came from Raymond H. Bateman, who was a state senator when Mr. Byrne trounced him to win re-election in 1977. Mr. Byrne was often underestimated by his adversaries, usually to their sorrow.

Despite what casual acquaintances saw as awkwardness in public, people who watched the governor more closely concluded that he was not really shy — that he was, in fact, a self-assured man.

He just did not care for the baby-kissing and glad-handing that is endemic to politics. And sometimes he simply did not care what people said.

During the gasoline crisis of 1979, after lecturing New Jerseyans on the need to conserve fuel, he flew to Washington to meet with White House aides on energy problems. Before leaving Trenton, he saw to it that his official limousine was dispatched to Washington so that he could be chauffeured around the capital. After the meetings, he flew back to Trenton. The limo went back empty, except for the driver.

He was widely criticized for the episode, but there was never a hint that it bothered Mr. Byrne, who could give as well as he got in dealing with New Jersey journalists.

“It is not true that I can only read at a fifth-grade level,” he told a group of them, after being roasted at a press dinner. “I read out-of-state papers, too.”