Inductees from 2017

Ben-Hur "Ben" Baddikian (1920-2016)
Categories: Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Literature / Writers / Newspapers
Ben Bagdikian, a major American journalist, had long and significant ties to Rhode Island. As a young man he worked for the Pro^^'ide'nce Journal for 15 years from 1947 to 1962. As an “on-the-spot” reporter he rode on an Israeli tank during the Suez Crisis, covered the civil rights struggle including the Little Rock, Arkansas school integration battle, and he traveled through the South with a black reporter in 1957 writing articles on segregation that won an award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. In 1953, Bagdikian and several other Journal reporters shared a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of a bold East Providence robbery and hostage standoff that took the life of a police officer. Read more >
Dr. Robert D Billington
Categories: Education & Universities, Explorers & Adventurers, Military
Growing up, he just wanted to become a drummer. However, a new journey to reclaim a post-industrial valley, reveal its history, clean up its river, and build an understanding of events that changed the course of America was about to unfold. Bob built an organization and organized communities to bring back the Blackstone Valley from years of disinvestment. His mission; to create an epic vision for the Valley, took more than three decades to achieve. Read more >
Richard L Bready, 2017
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists
Richard L. “Rick” Bready is an outstanding model of the successful international entrepreneur and corporate citi- zen who never really retires. Rick began his business career in 1967 as an accountant with Arthur Anderson in Boston where he was born in 1944 and grew up. He attended public and parochial schools in the Boston area; graduated from St. Read more >
Carlton C Brownell (1917-2013)
Categories: Education & Universities, Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Military
Most inductees to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame are chosen because of their impact upon their state, or even the nation. Some, however, have such a pervasive and beneficial impact on their community or region that their life and work demand induction. Carlton Brownell is such a person. His impact upon Little Compton and “Scunnet” generally, has been enormous. Read more >
Alfred Carpionato
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists
Alfred Carpionato started his life in humble circum- stances working for his fathers single family residential con- struction business when he was merely a teenager. As a very young man, he had traveled to Boston, Florida, and California where he gained invaluable expe- rience working with the top developers of that era. Taking everything he learned in the field, Carpionato took a promi- nent position in the family business. At just fifteen-years-old Carpionato bought his first building in the Smith Hill neigh- borhood of Providence, renovat- ing the units into apartments and transitioning the family business into a commercial real estate firm. Read more >
Barlett S Dunbar
Categories: Military
Bartlett S. Dunbar, who grew up on Cape Cod, is presi- dent and founder of Bowens Wharf Company, the first historic urban waterfront rehabilitation in New England. The Bowens Wharf revitalization that began in 1969, two years after Bart arrived on Aquidneck Island, provided the catalyst for rebuild- ing the Newport waterfront. Bowens Wharf is a commercial complex of 44 marine businesses, shops, and restaurants in 18th, 19th, and 20th century buildings on Newport's historic waterfront. Read more >
Sarah J. Eddy (1851-1945)
Categories: Philanthropists, Women

Sarah J. Eddy was a philanthropist and humanitarian; she was also a nationally recognized artist (painter and sculptor), photographer, suffragette and author.

Born in 1851, the second of four children, to James Eddy of Providence, a wealthy art connoisseur and philanthropist, and Elisa Jackson of Boston, a staunch woman's rights advocate and suffragette.

Sarah studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and later at New York's Art Students League. Read more >
Richard A. "Dick" Ernst
Categories: Sports - Hockey, Sports - Tennis
Dick Ernst, a Cranston native, has served more backhands and slap shots, than the number of cars that ply route 95 on any given day. His rise to prominence (and dominance) began in his hometown high school tennis courts and hockey rink in the mid-1950's where he became an all-state high school selection in both sports in 1956. Dick eventually starred in both tennis and hockey at Providence College.
Some collegiate stars walk away from their early careers as the demands of life take over, only playing pickup games as a hobby or a way to stay in shape. Read more >
Marie Rode Ferron (1902-1936)
Categories: Religion & Churches, Women

Marie Rose Ferron was born to devout Catholic parents on May 24, 1902, in the countryside near Quebec. Her mother had dedicated each of her 15 children to the mysteries of the Rosary. As the tenth child, Marie Rose honored the Crucifixion. These extraordinary circumstances surrounding Rose's birth seemed to foreshadow her destiny. Read more >
Warren B Galkin
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists
In 1917, Arthur Galkin I founded Natco Products Corporation as a recycler of waste materials. He had two sons, Bob and Warren. In 1949, his eldest son, Bob, graduated from Brown with a semester at Oxford and a BA in International Relations. At that time, Natco had two divisions; a division that manufactured mats, matting, and stair treads, with a large portion coming from other company's remnants, and a bag division that manufactured beach and travel bags. Read more >
Robert Galkin
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists
In 1917, Arthur Galkin I founded Natco Products Corporation as a recycler of waste materials. He had two sons, Bob and Warren. In 1949, his eldest son, Bob, graduated from Brown with a semester at Oxford and a BA in International Relations. At that time, Natco had two divisions; a division that manufactured mats, matting, and stair treads, with a large portion coming from other company's remnants, and a bag division that manufactured beach and travel bags. Read more >
Wini (Blacher) Galkin
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists
In 1917, Arthur Galkin I founded Natco Products Corporation as a recycler of waste materials. He had two sons, Bob and Warren. In 1949, his eldest son, Bob, graduated from Brown with a semester at Oxford and a BA in International Relations. At that time, Natco had two divisions; a division that manufactured mats, matting, and stair treads, with a large portion coming from other company's remnants, and a bag division that manufactured beach and travel bags. Read more >
Thomas F. Gilbane (1854-1927)
Categories: Architects & Designers, Business / Entrepreneurs, Famous RI Families

Humble origins have been the hallmark of many American and Rhode Island success stories. Not many can match the saga of the Gilbane Brothers and the establishment of the multinational Gilbane Building Company.

The Irish potato famine of the1840's sent myriads of Hibernian refugees to North America. And so it was with Thomas and Bridget Gilbane--from County Leitrim--who settled in Rhode Island in 1845 with their Irish-born first son, William. Read more >
William J. Gilbane (1842-1927)
Categories: Architects & Designers, Business / Entrepreneurs, Famous RI Families

Humble origins have been the hallmark of many American and Rhode Island success stories. Not many can match the saga of the Gilbane Brothers and the establishment of the multinational Gilbane Building Company.

The Irish potato famine of the1840's sent myriads of Hibernian refugees to North America. And so it was with Thomas and Bridget Gilbane--from County Leitrim--who settled in Rhode Island in 1845 with their Irish-born first son, William. Read more >
Sidney S Goldstein (1929-1995)
Categories: Founders of Rhode Island, Philanthropists
Some individuals have been recognized for Hall of Fame induction because of the success and prominence of their business creations. Joseph Banigan, in whose building we conduct this ceremony, is one local example. He was a co-founder of U. S. Read more >
Charlie Hall
Categories: Artists & Painters, Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Sports - Golf, TV & Radio
Charlie, as he prefers to be called, is a versatile comedian, writer, showman, artist, and political activist. In 2012, Charlie was the first person inducted into the newly-established Rhode Island Comedy Hall of Fame. His induction was the culmination of over thirty years of laugh-making through a variety of avenues including stand-up, writing, theater, and art. He is a true Renaissance man, and some say, a Rhode Island icon. Read more >
Lionel Joseph Jenkins (1934-2015)
Categories: Civil Rights / Abolitionists
Lionel Joseph Jenkins, a life- long leader in the civil rights movement, was born in Washington, D.C. on June 20, 1934, the son of Clarzell V. Jenkins and Mabel (Brown) Jenkins. Read more >
Archbishop Francis P. Keough (1890-1961)
Categories: Clergy, Religion & Churches

The Most Reverend Francis Patrick Keough, D.D., was the fourth Bishop of Providence. Keough was born in New Britain, Connecticut to Irish immigrant parents on December 30, 1890. Read more >
James Henry Kiernan (1884-1965)
Categories: Government & Politics

On a crisp January morning in 1915, a thirty-year-old freshman representative from the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Providence strode into the Rhode Island state capitol. This novice legislator was James Henry Kiernan. For nearly fifty-one years thereafter Jim Kiernan would serve with distinction in the Rhode Island House, and for thirty-five years, until the opening day of the 1950 session, he would never miss a meeting.
Back in 1915 Jim Kiernan was a member of a dynamic but outnumbered Democratic party in the General Assembly. Read more >
Christopher Grant La Farge (1897-1956)
Categories: Architects & Designers, Artists & Painters

It is not unusual in Rhode Island that talent and accomplishment run in many of the state's long-established families. A case in point is the La Farge family. Christopher Grant La Farge was the son of a noted architect of the same name, grandson of John La Farge, a nationally prominent artist and stained glass maestro, and brother of Oliver, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and champion of Native American culture.
Although he was New York City born in 1897, Christopher's heart was at the family's River Farm estate in the North Kingstown village of Saunderstown, a place often visited by Theodore Roosevelt. Read more >
Henry M. Leland (1843-1932)
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Industry - General, Inventors & Inventions

Henry Leland approached his boss at Brown & Sharpe with a preposterous proposal: He planned to quit his job and move west to begin a business, and he wanted to take one of his best co-workers with him. To start his new business he would need to borrow $2,000, the current equivalent of $50,000; he wondered: Would the boss front him the cash?

His boss, Lucian Sharpe, the eponymous co-founder of Brown & Sharpe, was a famously frugal Yankee. Approaching his 60th birthday in early 1890, Sharpe mulled over Leland's proposal. Surprisingly, he said yes. Read more >
U.S. Senator Jesse H. Metcalf (1860-1942)
Categories: Famous RI Families, Government & Politics, Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Philanthropists

Jesse Metcalf and his wife Louisa Sharpe Metcalf were the dynamic duo of Rhode Island philanthropy in the early 20th century. Jesse was the son and namesake of the founder of Providence's Wanskuck Mills, one of America's largest woolen manufacturers, and his mother, Helen, a Hall of Fame inductee, co-founded the Rhode Island School of Design. Louisa's father was Hall of Fame inductee Lucian Sharpe, co-founder of Brown & Sharpe, a machine tool company hailed as one of Providence's “five industrial wonders of the world.”

To whom much is given, much is expected. Read more >
Louisa Sharpe Metcalf (1866-1959)
Categories: Famous RI Families, Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Philanthropists

Jesse Metcalf and his wife Louisa Sharpe Metcalf were the dynamic duo of Rhode Island philanthropy in the early 20th century. Jesse was the son and namesake of the founder of Providence's Wanskuck Mills, one of America's largest woolen manufacturers, and his mother, Helen, a Hall of Fame inductee, co-founded the Rhode Island School of Design. Louisa's father was Hall of Fame inductee Lucian Sharpe, co-founder of Brown & Sharpe, a machine tool company hailed as one of Providence's “five industrial wonders of the world.”

To whom much is given, much is expected. Read more >
Justice Jeremiah Edward O'Connell (1883-1964)
Categories: Government & Politics, Law / Legal Pioneers

Jeremiah O'Connell was born in Wakefield, Massachusetts on July 8, 1883 to Irish immigrant parents and financed his own education at Boston University, earning a bachelor's degree in 1906, a law degree cum laude in 1908, and an LL.M in 1908. Thereafter he moved to Providence where he served on the common council from 1913 to 1919 and on the board of aldermen from 1919 to 1921.

During the two decades when the state had three congressional districts, O'Connell won election from Rhode Island's Third Congressional District. Read more >
Ambassador and Mayor Joe R. Paolino, Jr.
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Government & Politics, Philanthropists
The Honorable Joseph R. Paolino, Jr. assumes a unique place in the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. He is now the only inductee whose father, developer Joseph R. Read more >
Arun K Singh, M.D.
Categories: Medicine & Health Care
Dr. Arun K. Singh, a native of Patna, India, was born in 1944. As a child, the future physician suffered several debili- tating injuries including the breaking of both of his hands at different times, with one of these accidents resulting in the tempo- rary paralysis of his right hand — not the most auspicious start to a career in heart surgery. Read more >
William Michael Vareika
Categories: Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Philanthropists
Historian and philan- thropist, William Vareika exemplifies the art of giving. Raised in Brockton, Massachusetts, Vareika had every intention of becoming a lawyer. In the Fall of 1971, the political science major took a class in 19th-century art mainly to fulfill a school requirement. One day, he slipped into Bostons Trinity Church to reject on a topic for his paper. Read more >
Arthur N Votolato, Judge
Categories: Law / Legal Pioneers
Judge Arthur Votolato was appointed U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Rhode Island in 1968. His exceptional work on that tribunal led to his appointment as Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the First Circuit at its inception in June 1996. Read more >
Marcus F. Wheatland, Dr (1868-1934)
Categories: Medicine & Health Care

When Dr. Wheatland died in 1934 at the age of sixty-six, his obituary in the Newport Daily News newspaper lead off by noting “The life of the late Dr. Marcus F. Wheatland should be an inspiration to every boy, white or colored, who believes he has no chance to succeed. Read more >