We are pleased to introduce you to our 2021 Baltimore Sun Business and Civic Hall of Fame inductees. This marks our sixth year of recognizing individuals who have built their careers in the Baltimore region and have strived to make it a better place to live, work and lead. The Sun began this effort in 2016 to highlight various achievements of women and men in Maryland who rose to the top of their fields.
As a news organization with support from this community for 184 years, we recognize the important responsibility we have in the region to hold institutions, leaders and other decision makers accountable and to identify solutions to the region’s challenges. We also realize that it’s our job to celebrate the many achievements of community leaders, and we do that through annual publications such as this Hall of Fame, along with our Women to Watch and Top Workplaces magazines.
This year’s Hall of Fame class is being recognized for career achievements in business, philanthropy, public service, education, media and more. Our editorial board collaborated with past Hall of Fame inductees to choose this class of 2021. Last year, we unveiled the permanent Hall of Fame installation at the Center Club in downtown Baltimore. That display recognizes our past honorees, and we will add new class members each year.
Since its founding in 1837, Baltimore Sun Media has dedicated itself to leadership in business, journalism and debate, and it has chronicled the lives of the extraordinary women and men whose achievements define our city and region. The Sun’s Hall of Fame is designed to recognize Maryland’s modern-day leaders who have helped to set a standard for future generations.
Thirteen individuals were chosen for this year’s class, and we officially inducted them this week into the Hall of Fame. They join 68 people who made up the first five classes, including the late U.S. Rep. Helen Delich Bentley (2016) and John Paterakis Sr. (’16), as well as current business and civic leaders such as Eddie and Sylvia Brown (’16), former U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (’17), Joseph Haskins (’18), former Baltimore Mayor and current University of Baltimore President Kurt L. Schmoke (’19) and UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski (’20).
We sought nominations from our readers to identify a diverse group of women and men who should be considered. Our selection committee assisted our editorial board in studying each nominee, discussing their accomplishments and helping to choose the members of the class of 2021.
The selection panel considered various criteria, including a nominee’s business success, their influence in building and helping to expand organizations, community leadership, support for various causes and detailed achievements in leading Maryland and this region forward. Members of the editorial board made final decisions. As we have in the past, a portion of the proceeds from this Hall of Fame publication will be donated to charity; this year’s partner is the Greater Baltimore Urban League. We are pleased to thank our sponsors whose advertising can be found throughout this publication and at baltimoresun.com.
Profiles of this year’s Hall of Fame inductees appear throughout the pages of this section. We offer our thanks to each of them for their leadership and commitment to Baltimore and Maryland and hope that their stories will serve as an example and inspiration.
Congratulations to the class of 2021.
Trif Alatzas
Publisher and editor-in-chief