Inductees from 2010

Rev. Dr. Elisha Benjamin Andrews (1844-1917)
Categories: Education & Universities

Andrews, Elisha Benjamin, 1844-1917

Although E. Benjamin Andrews had only one eye – the result of a Civil War wound at the Battle of the Crater–some might say he was one of the most visionary presidents of Brown University. During his nine-year tenure as the eighth chief executive of Brown, he moved it from its status of a college to that of a university, drove it in the direction of a research institution, and opened opportunities for women by establishing Pembroke. Any one of these accomplishments would have earned him recognition as a distinguished and accomplished educator, but all of these were mastered while he performed his own scholarship. Read more >
Dr. Robert D. Ballard (1942-)
Categories: Explorers & Adventurers, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation

Best known for his 1985 discovery of the Titanic, Dr. Robert Ballard has succeeded in tracking down numerous other significant shipwrecks, including the Lusitania, the German battleship Bismarck, the lost fleet of Guadalcanal, the U.S. aircraft carrier Yorktown (sunk in the World War II Battle of Midway), and John F. Read more >
Thomas Williams Bicknell (1834-1925)
Categories: Education & Universities, Government & Politics, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Religion & Churches

Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925

Thomas W. Bicknell (1834-1925) of Barrington was one of the two outstanding historians of Rhode Island during the first half of the 20th century (Dr. Charles Carroll was the other). In 1920 he published a three-volume narrative history of the state, supplemented by three biographical volumes. Read more >
Dr. Joseph E. Cannon (1911-1989)
Categories: Civic Leaders, Education & Universities, Medicine & Health Care, Military

Joseph Cannon was born in Providence in 1911, the son of General Francis Cannon and Mary (Milligan) Cannon. He attended Technical High School and graduated from Brown University in 1932. He chose a career in medicine, and in 1936 he earned his degree cum laude from Tufts Medical School. Dr. Read more >
Kathleen S. Connell
Categories: Civic Leaders, Government & Politics, Medicine & Health Care, Women

Kathleen Sullivan Connell was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the only daughter of Lawrence and Margaret Sullivan. She attended St. Mary’s School and St. Catherine Academy, graduated magna cum laude from Salve Regina University with a BS in Nursing, and then earned a master’s degree in International Relations from Salve. Read more >
Dr. Manuel da Silva (1926-)
Categories: Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Immigrants: Portuguese, Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Medicine & Health Care

Dr. Manuel da Silva was born on September 5, 1926 in the village of Caviâo, Vale de Cambra in continental Portugal. After completing high school in Portugal, he emigrated to Brooklyn, New York with his mother and brother in January, 1946 to join his father, who was an American citizen. Young Manuel studied the English language intensively, and in 1948 he entered Washington Square College of New York University graduating with a biology degree in 1952. Read more >
Susan L. Farmer
Categories: Civic Leaders, Government & Politics, TV & Radio, Women

Susan L. Farmer joins her forebears, Bishop Alexander Griswold and Anne Hutchinson as an inductee into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. Like Hutchinson, a pioneer in many areas, including the advancement of women, Susan was a “first” as well. When elected Secretary of State in 1982, she became the first woman elected in Rhode Island to a statewide office. Read more >
J. Malcolm Grear (1931-)
Categories: Architects & Designers

Malcolm Grear is a renaissance man in the most complete sense of the word: he understands the human values involved with the arts, and has educated himself to appreciate and deliver beauty in our daily lives. He also has taken upon himself to educate others about good design as well.

Although Malcolm’s main discipline is graphic design, he has influenced the human-made environment in many other ways. He is fond of saying, at this stage of his highly successful career, that “there is practically no one in the U. Read more >
General Francis Vinton Greene (1850-1921)
Categories: Famous RI Families, Military

Greene, F. V. (Francis Vinton), 1850-1921

Francis Vinton Greene, son of General George Sears Greene and Martha Dana, was born in Providence on June 27, 1850. He entered the U. Read more >
Caroline Hazard (1856-1945)
Categories: Education & Universities, Famous RI Families, Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Women

Hazard, Caroline, 1856-1945

Caroline Hazard, educator, philanthropist, and author, was born in the South Kingstown village of Peace Dale on June 10,1856. She was educated by private tutors in Providence, by attending some courses at Brown University, and by private study in Europe. She worked side-by-side with her father, industrialist and social reformer Rowland G. Hazard, in various business ventures. Read more >
Governor James H. Higgins (1876-1927)
Categories: Government & Politics

Higgins, James H. (James Henry), 1876-1927

James H. Higgins was the first Irish-Catholic governor of Rhode Island, serving from 1907 to 1909. Although orphaned at a young age, Higgins pursued a high school degree in Pawtucket and was accepted at Brown University in 1894 at a time when few Irish-Catholics matriculated at the Ivy League institution. Read more >
William Henry Luther (1844-1914)
Categories: Government & Politics, Industry - Jewelry

Luther, William H. (William Henry),1844-1914

William Henry Luther was born in Dover, New Hampshire on April 24, 1844. The Luther family moved to Providence four years later where young Henry attended public school with some additional instruction at a local private school. Luther and his brother became interested in the lapidary trade, and after learning the essentials of the industry in Attleboro, they established their business in 1864 on 79 Pine Street in Providence. Read more >
Dr. William Augustus Mowry (1829-1917)
Categories: Education & Universities

Mowry, William A. (William Augustus), 1829-1917

Dr. William Augustus Mowry ranks among Rhode Island’s foremost educators. Besides writing a score of books (especially texts on history and civics), Mowry founded a highly-regarded private high school in Providence, pioneered in the establishment of teachers’ institutes, and served as superintendent of schools in Cranston and in Salem, Massachusetts. Read more >
U.S. Rep. George F. O'Shaunessy (1868-1934)
Categories: Government & Politics, Immigrants: Irish

O'Shaunessy, George Francis, 1868-

George Francis O’Shaunessy was born in Galway, Ireland on May 1, 1868. His parents came to America when he was a child and settled in New Jersey. George was educated in New York City parochial schools and received a law degree from Columbia University in 1889. Thereafter he acquired a reputation as an able lawyer and a political reformer. Read more >
Yat K. Tow (1912-1990)
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Food / Culinary, Immigrants: Chinese

The distinction and honor of being the first Chinese-American to be inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame is a recognition that Yat K. Tow (1912-1990) would accept with humility and pride. It is a tribute that has inclusive symbolic value--a shared honor that must also recognize the Tow family that preceded him and the other Chinese-American families that have contributed to our state.

The Tow family made a deep impression on Rhode Island’s hospitality and culinary history through the success of three of their restaurants: the Port Arthur, the Ming Garden, and the Great House. Read more >
Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941)
Categories: Craftsmen, Literature / Writers / Newspapers

Considered by many, one of the three greatest American printers, Daniel Berkeley Updike was born in Providence on February 14, 1860. He was a descendant of Richard Smith, one of the earliest settlers of North Kingstown, and his family owned extensive tracts of land in the Wickford area, most notably Cocumscussoc. Updike attended private school and worked for a time at the Providence Athenaeum. It was here, perhaps, that he developed an appreciation for the art of fine printing. Read more >
Edward Payson Weston (1839-1929)
Categories: Explorers & Adventurers, Literature / Writers / Newspapers

Edward Payson, 1839–1929, one of Rhode Island's most colorful native sons, was born in Providence on March 15, 1839. His father, Silas Weston, was at one time a school teacher and at another a publisher and the editor of a semi-monthly paper entitled The Pupil's Mentor. Edward's mother, Maria Gaines, was a talented writer who published several poems and novels.

Edward was the eldest of four children. Read more >
George A. Wiley (1931-1973)
Categories: African Americans, Civic Leaders, Civil Rights / Abolitionists

Warwick's George Wiley (1931-1973) compiled a record of service to his country which equals the sacrifices and service of his fellow hometowners, Nathanael and Christopher Greene. Like those men of the Revolutionary War generation, George, too, became a champion of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Whereas the Greenes took direct military action against Britain's King George by snatching the scepter from a tyrant's hand, George Wiley took direct action to ensure that the rights forged by the American Revolution were extended to those of the least station in American society, the poor.

Born in 1931 to a middle-class black family with a deeply held religious tradition, George A. Read more >
Owen Wister (1860-1938)
Categories: Literature / Writers / Newspapers

Owen Wister (1860-1938) the quintessential cowboy hero in the fictional literature of the American West. The image of the strong, silent, chivalrous demeanor of countless buckskin and Levi-clad templars of justice of the plains received their inspiration from a Philadelphian elitist who spent much of his writing career in Bayside, Saunderstown, Rhode Island.

Musician, lawyer, and novelist, Owen Wister, shared at least one personal experience with one of his main authentic heroes, Theodore Roosevelt. They both spent several summers in the West seeking to restore their health. Read more >