Geri V. Bergen
Martha Stewart, Frances Goodrich, Gerrat J. Vermeij, Carol Blazejowski, and Benjamin Hawkins are just a few notables in the Nutley Hall of Fame.
This year, eight more will be added to the list:
• Geri V. Bergen, a pioneer in the field of forestry;
• William Callanan Jr., a renowned jazz recording artist;
• Ron Corio, innovator and influencer in the global renewable energy sector;
• Silas Mountsier, who is celebrated for his distinguished career in banking and unwavering commitment to philanthropy;
• Louis Joseph Riccardi, who won 13 gold medals at the Saginaw Michigan Area 22 Summer Special Olympics;
• Eaton Stone, one of the leading horse riders in the country in the 1800s;
• David Verdi, senior vice president of Worldwide News Gathering at NBC News;
• Music producer Michael Volpe, who had signed with TriAngle, Columbia, and Sony.
The celebration for the new inductees will be held at the Nutley Public Library, 93 Booth Drive, on Sunday, Nov. 19, between 2 and 5 p.m. It’s open to the public for $50 per ticket which includes an informal cocktail reception.
The Nutley Hall of Fame is the brainchild of Carmen A. Orechio, who served as mayor of Nutley three times: 1972-1976, 1980-1984, and 1992-1996. He came to Pat Ritacco in 2000 with his idea. Ritacco is a historian who serves as chairman of the Nutley Hall of Fame.
Ritacco liked the idea but didn’t want it to be perceived as a mutual admiration society. He said, “I want it to really be tiered, so the bylaws are pretty strict.”
There are three bylaws to be considered for the Nutley Hall of Fame:
1. If you are born in Nutley, you are automatically considered.
2. If you graduated from Nutley High School.
3. If you’ve lived in Nutley at least 10 years.
“As long as they’re in those perimeters, we give their names to the judges,” said Ritacco.
As for the judges, Ritacco said they also had to be special. He decided those on board should be either a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, an architect, a teacher, or a clergyman.
“Every one of those professions, you need a license to practice,” he said. “We’ll try to get as many of these people on the docket as we can to show people that we are serious about the process of picking someone. They also have an uneven number of judges to avoid a deadlock.
The judges on the panel this year are Dolores Capalbo, Joseph Cervasio, John Dinan DDS, Eileen Poiani PhD, Fred Scalera, John Simko, and Marie Solimo.
With an average of nine inductees per year, since 2003, there are about 90 people in the Nutley Hall of Fame. There is a Hall of Fame tree at the library that has a leaf for every person inducted.
“For a small town, we really over-achieved,” said Ritacco.
For more information on the Nutley Hall of Fame, visit: https://nutleyhalloffame.nutleypubliclibrary.org/history/
To obtain tickets for the Nutley Hall of Fame, contact the library at: 973-667-0405.
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