Malone received a B.S. from Trenton State College and was awarded an M.Ed. from Trenton State College in Industrial Education. He was born in Trenton, and currently resides in Bordentown. Malone has served on the Bordentown Sewerage Authority since 1986. He was the Bordentown City Director of Public Works from 1973-1997. Malone served as Mayor of Bordentown from 1973-1993 and was its Deputy Mayor from 1993-1997 following his appointment to the Assembly. At the time of his first election in 1973, he was the youngest mayor of Bordentown. Malone has served as the director of post-secondary and adult education and apprentice coordinator at Somerset County Technical Institute in Bridgewater. Early in his political career, Malone was a Democrat and was one the party's nominees for the General Assembly in 1979 in the 8th Legislative District. However, later he became a Republican and was selected by the 30th District's Republican county committees to fill the remainder of Robert Singer's unexpired 1992-93 term in the General Assembly after Singer resigned his seat to fill a State Senate vacancy created when John E. Dimon did not run for re-election and later died. Malone was the Assembly's Budget Officer from 2004 to January 2011, and was the Assistant Majority Whip from 2000-2001. He served in the Assembly on the Budget Committee, Education Committee, Higher Education Committee, Joint Budget Oversight Committee and the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services. On June 12, 2011, Malone announced he would not seek reelection in the November 2011 elections after 18 years in the Assembly, but noted that "I want to stay involved in public service, and we'll see how that plays out in a couple years." He was succeeded by Sean T. Kean, who had previously served in the State Senate representing the 30th District prior to redistricting, and David Rible who had served from the 11th District. Following his retirement from the state legislature, Malone was elected to a single term as Mayor of Bordentown in 2013 before choosing to not seek another term in 2017.
