Sun Hall of Fame 2019

The Sun is proud to announce the induction of 12 men and women into our Civic and Business Hall of Fame. We will honor them in a special section of The Sun and at an induction dinner in early June. This year’s honorees are:

Robert C. Embry Jr.

The head of Baltimore’s Abell Foundation, Bob Embry has dedicated his long career to improving the lives of Baltimoreans, including leadership of the Housing Authority and the Board of School Commissioners. Under his watch, Abell assets and grantmaking have more than doubled, solidifying its unique role in both directly supporting non-profits and funding research to deepen Baltimore’s civic conversation.

John B. Frisch

After starting as a summer associate during law school, John Frisch spent his entire career at Miles & Stockbridge, rising to become its chairman and CEO. During that time, he became a dedicated civic leader, serving a wide variety of civic institutions from Visit Baltimore to the B&O Railroad museum.

Larry Gibson

Civil rights leader Larry Gibson has fought segregation and discrimination through the courts and has sought to expand opportunities for all through his work in politics. He has taught law at the University of Maryland since 1974 while working to educate the public about the legacy of civil rights and African American lawyers in Maryland, including Thurgood Marshall, of whom he is a noted biographer.

Sandy Hillman

After a stint in Lyndon Johnson’s administration, Sandy Hillman moved to Baltimore to lead the city’s tourism office under Mayor William Donald Schaefer, where she became one of the guiding forces behind the re-development of the Inner Harbor. She then moved into public relations, eventually establishing her own firm, which represents clients around the world.

Paul Sarbanes

The son of Greek immigrants on the Eastern Shore, Paul Sarbanes served six terms in the U.S. Senate. His crowning achievement was the 2002 passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which made major reforms to corporate governance and accountability rules. Brian C. Rogers

Known for maintaining T. Rowe Price’s disciplined and methodical approach during good times and bad, Brian Rogers stepped down as the money manager’s chief investment officer in 2017. Over the years, he has demonstrated his commitment to Baltimore in a wide variety of roles, from chairing the Greater Baltimore Committee to serving on the Johns Hopkins Board of Trustees.

Mary Pat Seurkamp

During 15 years as its president, Mary Pat Seurkamp transformed the College of Notre Dame of Maryland into Notre Dame of Maryland University. The first layperson to lead the school on a permanent basis, she preserved the institution’s women’s college while expanding its undergraduate programs, establishing its first doctoral program and creating its college of pharmacy.

Kurt Schmoke

In 1987, Kurt Schmoke became the first African American elected mayor of Baltimore City, and during his three terms he proved an ahead-of-his-time thinker on issues like drug addiction and low-income housing. After leaving office, he served as dean of Howard University Law School, and in 2014, he became president of the University of Baltimore.

Leonard and Roslyn Stoler

The philanthropists Len and Roslyn Stoler made a connection to the University of Maryland Medical System when their granddaughter was successfully treated for cancer there at age 4. They since have given their time to the institution and millions in donations, culminating in a $25 million gift last year, the largest in the hospital’s history.

Otis Warren Jr.

No African Americans owned a major office building in downtown Baltimore until Otis Warren built the City Crescent tower on Howard Street in 1993. It took guts and tenacity, two qualities that made the pioneering developer a force in residential and commercial real estate throughout Baltimore. John Waters

Has Baltimore ever produced a greater ambassador to the world than John Waters? We think not. At its best, this is a city that embraces everyone for who they are, however weird that might be, and he has elevated (degraded?) that into an art form.