Inductees from 2000

Dr. Doris M. Hollway Abels
Categories: Education & Universities, Entertainment Development, Theater, Women

The late Dr. Doris M. Holloway Abels, formerly of North Kingstown accomplished educator, performing artist and advocate of the arts founded her own school of dance and helped to establish the Trinity Reperatory Company. The versatile Dr. Read more >
Nicholas Brown, II (1769-1841)
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Education & Universities, Famous RI Families, Philanthropists

Nicholas Brown II, 1769-1841, Providence businessman and philanthropist, was the son and heir of of Nicholas Brown, one of the five famous Brown brothers of late eighteenth-century Providence. In 1796 he formed the highly successful mercantile-industrial partnership Brown & Ives, which made a fortune in the China trade. When the name of Rhode Island College was changed to Brown University in 1804, the change was made in recognition of the gifts and services rendered to the school by Nicholas and his uncles. Nicholas II served as a member of the Brown Corporation for fifty years, twenty-nine of them as treasurer. Read more >
Tristam Burges (1770-1853)
Categories: Education & Universities, Government & Politics, Law / Legal Pioneers

Tristam Burges, 1770-1853, was chief justice, leading member of the bar, U.S. Congressman (1825-1835), leader of the Whig Party and professor of oratory at Brown University. After a distinguished career in law, politics, and education, Burges retired to his estate “Watchemoket Farm,” then in Seekonk, Massachusetts, but since 1862 within the bounds of East Providence. Read more >
James Burrill, Jr. (1772-1820)
Categories: Founders of Rhode Island, Government & Politics

James Burrill, Jr., 1772-1820, was chief justice, attorney general (1797-1813), speaker of the house (1814-1816), U.S. Senator (1817-1820), leader of the Federalist Party, brilliant lawyer and orator. Read more >
Harry M. Callahan (1912-1999)
Categories: Artists & Painters, Education & Universities

The late Harry M. Callahan, 1912-1999, formerly of Atlanta, Georgia and Providence, was generally regarded as one of America's greatest photographers and photo essayists of the 20th-century, who was one of the most celebrated educators of his time, teaching for fifteen years at the Rhode Island School of Design, and whose influence on his profession was felt worldwide. Read more >
John Carter (1745-1814)
Categories: Literature / Writers / Newspapers

John Carter, 1745-1814, was the editor of the Providence Gazette. He began his journalistic career as an apprentice to Benjamin Franklin. From 1767 until 1814 John Carter molded public opinion in Providence. His Gazette was a strong supporter of the Revolutionary cause and the ratification of the federal Constitution. Read more >
Louis A. Cimini (1920-2010)
Categories: Civic Leaders, Education & Universities, Sports - Basketball, Sports - Football, Sports - Hockey

Louis A. Cimini, a former resident of North Providence, legendary La Salle Academy coach and teacher, he also served as a football and baseball official as well as the Director of Recreation for North Providence. Cimini was an outstanding athlete in his own right and was inducted into six Halls of Fame and received a Presidential Citation and National Recreation Award for exemplary service to youth. Read more >
Felix De Weldon (1907-2003)
Categories: Artists & Painters, Military

Felix De Weldon, 1907-2003, formerly of Newport and Dana Point, California, was a famed sculptor and painter whose bronze statue of the Marine Corps raising the flag of the United States on Iwo Jima during World War II was dedicated as the Marine Corps War Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. He created more than 2,000 different public sculptures including presidents and kings. Read more >
Ebenezer Knight Dexter (1773-1824)
Categories: Founders of Rhode Island, Philanthropists

Ebenezer Knight Dexter, 1773-1824, prominent Providence merchant and a United States marshal who became Providence's greatest philanthropist. In his will he bequeathed nearly 2.3 million square feet of land to Providence for aid to the poor and other civic purposes including the training of militia. His most notable gifts were the Dexter Asylum and the Dexter training grounds. Read more >
Dr.Solomon Drowne (1753-1834)
Categories: Education & Universities, Founders of Rhode Island, Medicine & Health Care

Dr. Solomon Drowne, 1753-1834, a noted physician, graduated from Brown in 1773 with Senator Theodore Foster (1752-1828). He returned to Rhode Island from his far-flung travels in 1801 to settle in Foster. His estate, called Mount Hygeia, after the Greek goddess of health, became the setting for many botanical experiments and the formulation of several natural herbal remedies of note. Read more >
Theodore Foster (1752-1828)
Categories: Founders of Rhode Island, Government & Politics, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation

Theodore Foster, 1752-1828, a lawyer and long-time state legislator, served as town clerk (1775-1787) and supported the movement for independence. He was a prominent advocate of the federal Constitution. His efforts in support of ratification, together with his advantageous marriage to the sister of Governor Arthur Fenner, gained him election as one of Rhode Island's first U.S. Read more >
John Howland (1757-1854)
Categories: Education & Universities, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation

John Howland, 1757-1854,a public-spirited businessman who began his career as an apprentice hairdresser, is often cited as the father of the Providence public school system. In 1799, the Newport-born civic leader organized an educational lobby which induced the General Assembly to pass a “free school act” on March 13, 1800. Pursuant to that act, Howland directed the town's efforts to comply. Providence appointed its first school committee in August, with Howland as its dominant voice. Read more >
Dr. Walter F. Jusczvk (1918-1997)
Categories: Education & Universities, Medicine & Health Care, Sports - Baseball

The late Walter F. Jusczvk formerly of Warwick, was a successful dentist in West Warwick for many years, a Hall of Fame athlete, and Providence Journal Honor Roll Boy in 1937, was a record-setting pitcher at Brown. He went on to play baseball professionally and was a longtime member of the RI Heritage Hall of Fame board of directors. Read more >
Dr. Mark P. Malkovich, III (1930-2010)
Categories: Entertainment Development, Music (Singers, Composers)

Dr. Mark P. Malkovich III, of Portsmouth, served as Artistic Director of the Newport Music Festival for 35 years. As Artistic Director (formerly General Director) of the Newport Music Festival, his avid awareness of the international music scene and whose creation of a music-making community of artists is legendary. Read more >
Lawrence N. Spitz (1912-2008)
Categories: Labor / Unions

Lawrence Spitz
of Sun City, Arizona, formerly of Providence and Woonsocket was a pioneer labor leader who was a strong advocate for the workingman. He became one of the State's most effective iconoclasts, drafting its first labor relations act, and helping to gain major legislation for fair housing and worker representation at Blue Cross. Read more >
Gov. Bruce G. Sundlun (1920-2011)
Categories: Education & Universities, Government & Politics, Military, Sports - Other

Bruce G. Sundlun of Narragansett, formerly Governor of Rhode Island, was also an all-state schoolboy athlete, war hero, businessman, prominent attorney, and University professor. His many accomplishments as Governor include resolution of the Credit Union crisis and building the new airport terminal which was dedicated in his name. Read more >
Henry Wheaton (1785-1848)
Categories: Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Law / Legal Pioneers

Henry Wheaton, 1785-1848
, persevered, despite Rhode Island's disapproval of the War of 1812, to be one of Rhode Island's most persuasive legal defenders during that time. He stands alongside the foremost naval hero of the War of 1812, Oliver Hazard Perry, and Rhode Island's most successful privateer, James D'Wolf.

This jurist, diplomat, and expounder of international law graduated from Brown in 1802, studied civil law in France in 1805-06, and practiced law in Providence until 1812, when his legal defense of the policies of Jefferson and Madison prompted Democratic Republicans in New York City to offer him the editorship of the National Advocate, their local party newspaper. Writing forcefully and with learning on the questions of international law growing out of the War of 1812, Wheaton was considered the mouthpiece of the Madison administration during his three-year wartime tenure with the paper. Read more >
David Wilkinson (1771-1852)
Categories: Civil Engineer, Industry - Textiles, Inventors & Inventions, Religion & Churches
David Wilkinson (1771-1852) a Pawtucket native, was a successful Industrial Revolution-era inventor and mill owner. When an historical movement is particularly successful, it is logical that there would be many claims of authorship. This is certainly true of the Industrial Revolution and the beginnings of the American factory system. At the center of the Industrial Revolution's story is, of course, Samuel Slater; but it does not detract from Slater's reputation to add more personalities to the story. Read more >
Dr. Gordon S. Wood (1933-)
Categories: Education & Universities, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Literature / Writers / Newspapers

Gordon S. Wood of Providence is the Pulitzer Prize-winning Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University. As historian and scholar of international renown, he taught for 31 years and is widely acknowledged as one of the foremost historians of the American founding and has held numerous fellowships and has produced many award-winning publications. Read more >