Inductees from 2018

Judge Francis J. Darigan, Jr (1942-)
Categories: Law / Legal Pioneers, Military

Judge Frank Darigan was born on September 21, 1942 to a South Providence Irish-Catholic family. He never severed his roots. Of the many Hall of Fame inductees from Providence's South Side, Frank's nearly six decades of volunteer social service to his neighborhood is unmatched by any of these honorees.
Darigan served as a judge of the District Court for 7½ years and as an associate justice of the Superior Court from June 28, 1991 to February 29, 2012. Read more >
Kenneth R Dooley (1932-)
Categories: Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Immigrants: Irish, Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Military, Theater

Kenneth R. Dooley was born in Providence in 1931. He graduated from LaSalle Academy and Providence College (Class of 1959). He spent a career in publishing and film production with the media giant Prentice Hall in New Jersey as an executive vice president of the Bureau of Business Practice (1960-1977). Read more >
Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy (1967-)
Categories: Famous RI Families, Government & Politics, Immigrants: Irish, Philanthropists

Patrick Joseph Kennedy II was born in Brighton, Massachusetts on July 14, 1967, the son of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and Joan Bennett Kennedy. After graduation from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts in 1986, he began a quarter-century of residence in Rhode Island bringing with him both the benefits and the burdens of the Kennedy legacy. Read more >
Congressman Ronald K. Machtley (1948-)
Categories: Education & Universities, Government & Politics

Congressman Ronald Machtley , president of Bryant University, is not a native Rhode Islander, but he has enriched his adopted state through his leadership for nearly four decades. Ron was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on July 13, 1948, but like Hall of Fame inductees, Admirals Stephen Luce, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and William S. Sims, the Navy brought him to the Ocean State. Like that distinguished trio, he also became a college president, albeit with a much longer tenure. Read more >
Ronald R.S. Picerne (1929-)
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Education & Universities, Philanthropists
Born in Cranston, Rhode Island in 1929, Ronald R.S. Picerne is the son of Romeo and Rose Picerne. Ron attended Cranston public schools and graduated from Cranston East High School in 1946. Read more >
James P. Riley (1950-)
Categories: Government & Politics, Labor / Unions, Philanthropists

James P. Riley was born in New Britain, Connecticut in 1950. He began his long career in the labor movement as a butcher for Stop & Shop in the 1970s. In 1984, Jim left his meat cutting career for a position as an organizer with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW). Read more >
Dr. Rudolph E. Tanzi (1958-)
Categories: Medicine & Health Care, Technology & Science

Dr. Rudolph E. Tanzi is the Joseph P. and Rose F. Read more >
Spencer W. Viner, Esq.
Categories: Education & Universities, Law / Legal Pioneers

“My parents taught me the importance of being honest and fair in all my dealings, to look for the good in people, to try to ignore their shortcomings, and to be kind to everyone.” Spencer Viner took this advice to heart and hopefully imparted these maxims to his two daughters, Tonja and Lindsey. With his wife, Darcy, Spencer calls this foursome "a true team." He has learned from them that the best “things” in life aren't “things” at all!
Spencer describes himself as an ordinary man who has been on an extraordinary journey from Rhode Island to Vietnam, from the local practice of law to arguing before the United States Supreme Court, and from politics and the Mob while witnessing and sidestepping the seduction of corruption. Read more >
Holly Patrice Wood
Categories: TV & Radio, Women

Award-winning journalist Patrice Wood has been delivering the news to Southern New England on WJAR-TV, Channel 10, since February, 1980, making her the longest-serving female newscaster in Rhode Island television history. She currently anchors the main evening newscasts, Monday through Friday, at 5:00, 6:00, 10:00 and 11:00.
Holly Patrice Wood grew up on a farm in Rockford, Ohio and gives her father, Duane Wood, credit for instilling in her a strong work ethnic which has served her well as she built a successful career in television news. Wood and her two sisters, Sheila and Colleen, spent their childhood days taking care of farm animals, driving tractors, and pulling weeds out of soybean fields. Read more >