Class 2005
Hall of Fame Banquet Class of 2005
Sister Mary Caritas, Sisters of Providence
Founders of Mercy Medical Center
Joshua Brooks
Founder of Eastern States Exposition
William L. Putnam
Founder of WWLP Television-Channel 22
Mary Lyon
Founder of Mt. Holyoke College
Fran & Teddi Laurin
Founders of Laurin Publishing
Joseph Napolitan
Founder of Napolitan Associates
Six individuals or organizations from the past and present of this region have been selected for induction into the Class of 2005 of the Western Massachusetts Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, located at the Andrew M. Scibelli Enterprise Center in the Springfield Technical Community College Technology Park. The announcement was made at a recent reception in the Enterprise Center honoring the inductees and their families or descendents.
The formal induction will take place on Thursday, October 6, with an induction banquet following that evening at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House. Proceeds from the banquet are used to support entrepreneurship programs in Western Massachusetts, including the YES! (Young Entrepreneurial Scholars) program, which serves more than 1,000 young men and women in two dozen area high schools, as well as the Community Foundation of Western Mass. student business incubator.
The Class of 2005 includes:
- Sister Mary Caritas, former president of Mercy Hospital Sisters of Providence, founders of Sisters of Providence Health System
- Joshua Brooks, founder of the Eastern States Exposition
- William L. Putnam, founder of WWLP TV-22
- Mary Lyon, founder of Mount Holyoke College
- Fran and Teddi Laurin, owners of Laurin Publishing
- Joseph Napolitan, consultant
Sister Mary Caritas
Sisters of Providence
In 1993 when Sister Mary Caritas was retiring as president of Mercy Hospital, now Mercy Medical Center, Congressman Richard Neal paid tribute to her from the floor of the U.S. Congress as "one of the truly special and outstanding women in the field of healthcare administration in our country. Sister Mary Caritas has committed her entire life to the service of others, showering the people around her with warmth and fondness." Since that date, Sister Caritas has described herself as "actively retired" and continued to serve on national, regional, and local boards.
Born in the North End of Springfield, Sister Caritas earned a bachelor's degree from Regis College, an ADA dietetic internship at the New England Medical Center, an M.Ed from Tufts University, and a certificate in hospital executive management from St. Louis University. She held professional positions at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, St. Luke's Hospital and Berkshire Medical Center in the Pittsfield area, before becoming president of Mercy Hospital in 1977. She also served as chair of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, Caritas Christi and the Boston Archdiocesan Health Care System, and the Catholic Health Association, as well as being a member of the boards of the American Hospital Association, several area colleges, charitable associations, and local businesses.
Sister Caritas served as president of the Sisters of Providence congregation, and was an advisory member of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops. She was a member of the Springfield Diocesan Board of Catholic Charities and the advisory board of the Diocesan Foundation. She has received numerous honors and awards.
Sisters of Providence
A journey that began in 1873 with two Sisters of Providence from Ontario, Canada collecting funds in a Holyoke parish, has grown through compassionate care in works of charity benefiting the health and social needs of this region to become the Sisters of Providence Health System. With healthcare facilities in Western Mass, Providence Ministries for the Needy in Holyoke, and Genesis Spiritual Life Center in Westfield, the Sisters of Providence continue to "communicate hope to those in need through ministries of healing."
The Sisters of Providence are honored by the Western Mass. Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in recognition of the corporate success of the institutions they founded, and in gratitude for their service to communities and individuals throughout this region over the past 132 years.
STCC Vice President for Institutional Advancement Dr. Gail Carberry noted, "While it may seen unusual to honor a religious organization for business enterprise, the Sisters of Providence, working in partnership with the laity, are a strong and distinguished example of the Western Mass. Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame's emphasis on giving back to the community. The economic viability of their sponsored institutions enables the Sisters of Providence to provide compassionate care to the residents of this region."
The Sisters' mission in Western Mass, was established in response to the concern of Rev. Harkins, Pastor of Holyoke's St. Jerome Church, for the needs of Irish and Scottish mill workers. The House of Providence opened by four sisters in November 1873 cared for orphans and the needy and infirm. Over the next decades, their ministries widened to include hospitals and nursing schools, an orphanage, nursing homes, a residence for working girls and a home for unwed mothers, as well as additional social services. In the latter part of the 20th century, the Sisters of Providence renewed and expanded their mission to embrace wider values on issues of social justice. In 1981 they restructured their institutions to establish full collaboration with the laity.
The efforts of the Sisters of Providence over more than a century of work in Western Massachusetts has made tangible their mission as "a community of persons committed to being a transforming, healing presence within the communities that we serve."
Joshua Brooks
Known variously as The Springfield Fair, The Show Window of the East, the Eastern States, and finally the Big E, the agricultural fair established by Joshua Loring Brooks in 1916 has become an institution that draws a million people each September to the 175-acre fairgrounds in West Springfield.
As the industrial revolution, increasing competition and scientific advances overshadowed traditional agriculture in the early years of the 20th century, Brooks and prominent businessmen such as Horace A. Moses, founder of Strathmore Paper, sought to revitalize regional agriculture. Brooks said, "If the farmer fails to adopt the resources of both science and business, he cannot hold his own. Unless New England's farmers are successful, her industries will suffer."
With 12 parcels optioned of a necessary 13 tracts of swampy hay land along the Agawam River, Brooks and other New England executives mounted a determined campaign of persuasion to secure the powerful National Dairy Show as their opening attraction. Succeeding against all odds, the group then had to scramble to gather funding and construct the promised buildings, barns and grandstand. The fair opened as scheduled, as a resounding success.
In the following decades, the fair expanded and changed, adding horse shows, the Avenue of States, Storrowton Village, youth activities (including the Future Farmers of America Oratorical Contest in 1932) and popular entertainment. Political leaders and celebrities from Dwight Eisenhower to Roy Rogers visited the site, and attendance grew yearly.
Brooks served as president of the Eastern States Exposition from 1914 to 1942 and as honorary president until his death in 1949.
Today, the Exposition grounds are the site of not only the annual 17-day Big E but also dozens of other trade and consumer shows and events such as the machine tool trade show EASTEC, the Western Mass. Home Show, a boat show, and an antiques and collectibles show.
William L. Putnam
William Lowell Putnam, businessman, mountaineering enthusiast, and television pioneer will be inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame for his founding of WWLP TV-22 and his success in establishing it as one of the first UHF stations in the country to carry a network affiliation. He founded Springfield Television Corporation in 1952, and went on the air with WWLP in 1953, and with WKEF in Dayton in 1963, both as NBC affiliates, and began KSTU in Salt Lake as an independent station in 1975. He sold the stations in 1984 and during the next decade was Director of Carroll Travel Bureau and later chairman of the Springfield Parks Commission. He served as Director and Secretary/Treasurer of NBC-TV Affiliates from 1977 to 1982, and as Vice Chairman of the Association of Maximum Service Telecasters in 1982-84.
In November, 2001 Putnam was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable (B&C) Hall of Fame, along with Michael Eisner, Katie Couric, Lorne Michaels, Mary Tyler Moore, Michael J. Fox and other luminaries. The B&C account of that evening notes, "William L. Putnam, who founded WWLP-TV in Springfield, Mass. pushed all-channel legislation, so that all televisions carried UHF tuners. Obviously that greatly expanded the television world. As he received his award, he thanked others who were in the battle: former FCC Commissioner Robert E. Lee who he said 'championed the cause of UHF television' and former FCC chairman Newton Minnow who 'brought to the chairmanship of the FCC all the idealism that swept into Washington with the inauguration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.' "
Putnam grew up in Springfield, where his father Roger Lowell Putnam served as mayor. He earned a bachelor's degree in geology from Harvard College, where a relative had been president, and went on to graduate work at Tufts University. He was decorated for his military service during World War II, serving in the 85th Mountain Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division. He has been an officer of various mountaineering and alpine clubs continuously since his days at Harvard, including serving as a director of the American Alpine Club for 30 years, and as North American Councilor for the International Association of Alpine Societies from 1974 to 2003. He has written numerous guidebooks about North American mountain ranges.
Putnam currently resides in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he is the sole trustee of the Lowell Observatory, a position held by his father for 40 years. The Observatory was founded by his grandfather, Boston mathematician Percival Lowell, in 1894. The privately-owned astronomical research institution was established to study the planet Mars, and is best known for the discovery of Pluto.
Mary Lyon
Growing up in the early 1800s, in a time when schooling was scheduled around the agricultural calendar and education was thought inappropriate for females, Mary Lyon developed the courage, determination, and foresight that led her to persevere in her own academic quest and to found an institution which would become an American model of higher education for women. Mount Holyoke College opened its doors on November 8, 1837 as the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, welcoming 80 exceptional young women, each of whom had brought the required Bible, an atlas, a dictionary, and two spoons.
Mary Lyon was born in Buckland, Mass. in February 1797; her father had fought in the Revolutionary War. Her mother remarried after his death, and Mary was left behind to be self-supporting at age 13. She kept house for her brother, who ran the family farm, and received a weekly wage of one silver dollar. Four years later, she became a teacher in nearby Shelburne Falls; in the next two decades, she combined her work at schools throughout the region with the struggle to continue her own education, focusing in chemistry.
By 1834, Mary had reached the decision to establish her own institution. She left her administrative position at Ipswich Female Seminary, and spent the next three years raising funds, gathering influential supporters, developing a curriculum that was unusually strong in math and science, and designing and constructing her building in South Hadley.
Today Mount Holyoke welcomes 2100 students from all 50 states and 80 countries, and is "recognized worldwide for it rigorous and innovative academic program, its global community, its legacy of women leaders, and its commitment to connecting the work of the academy to the concerns of the world."
Francis T. Laurin and Teddi C. Laurin
Laurin Publishing Co. in Pittsfield is known worldwide as the publisher of Photonics Spectra, the Photonics Directory, photonics websites, and other products concerning the light-based technologies such as lasers and fiber optics.
In 1962, Teddi Laurin joined Eastman Kodak physicist Dr. Clifton Tuttle who had published the Optical Industry Directory since 1954. The single volume directory, stressing accuracy and completeness, has grown to a four-volume set.
In 1964 Fran and Teddi Laurin purchased and incorporated the company and in 1967 Teddi launched Optical Spectra, later renamed Photonics Spectra, the industry's leading trade magazine. Contributing editors and an advisory board of 50 industry executives keep the magazine and related products at the forefront of information for the optical community, from technology development to business trends, in the United States and internationally.
More than 80 employees are located at the company's Pittsfield headquarters; editorial and sales branch offices are located in Colorado, Chicago, Florida, New York, London, Dusseldorf and Tokyo.
Joseph Napolitan
Springfield native Joe Napolitan may be the first person ever to describe himself as a political consultant. He is the founder of the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC), co-founder of the International Association of Political Consultants (IAPC) and an honorary member of the European association. According to the EAPC, he "has been advising political candidates since 1956. He has worked on every continent and has been a personal consultant to nine foreign heads of state. He served on the campaign staffs of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and was director of media for Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey. In 1999 Napolitan was chosen by PR Week magazine as one of the 100 most influential PR people of the 20th century. He was also selected by the Pew Foundation as one of the eight political consultants who have contributed most to establishing and maintaining high standards in the consulting profession." Napolitan's book The Election Game and How to Win It was translated into several languages, including Russian; he was invited to Russia to lecture about the concepts.
For information on tickets, please contact William Kwolek,
Executive Director of the STCC Foundation, at 413/755-4477.