Middlesex County to Get a New NJ Hall of Fame Honoree

MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NJ — The New Jersey Hall of Fame recently announced it will induct 18 more notable New Jerseryans in 2024, including Academy Award winner Meryl Streep, Jersey Mike's founder Peter Cancro, former Giants quarterback Phil Simms, and singer-songwriter Lesley Gore.

Among its 2024 honorees is North Brunswick-born Tim Howard, former U.S. Men's National Soccer Team’s standout goalkeeper. Howard, 45, will be Middlesex County’s 14th notable inducted into the state's Hall of Fame at American Dream in East Rutherford. Howard was also inducted this year into the National Soccer Hall of Fame .

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Middlesex County is already home to 13 other New Jersey Hall of Fame honorees, some with tenuous connections to our county. Let’s take a closer look:

MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE
Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2022, photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971) was born in the Bronx, but grew up in Middlesex Borough and graduated from its public schools. Her childhood borough home is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Bourke-White was the first woman war correspondent allowed to shoot photos in combat zones. Her photos captured the horrors and liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp, and fighting in North Africa, Italy and Germany. Soldiers dubbed her “Maggie the Indestructible” because she survived many close calls

MICHAEL DOUGLAS
Inducted into the NJ Hall of Fame in 2012, actor Michael Douglas, 79, was born by chance in New Brunswick on Sept. 25, 1944. His famous father, Kirk Douglas, and actress-mother Diana Dill, were visiting her brother-in-law, artist J. Seward Johnson II, son of Johnson & Johnson co-founder, Robert Wood Johnson, when Diana Dill went into labor. She delivered Micheal Douglas at St. Peter’s Hospital in New Brunswick.

JAMES FLORIO
Inducted into the NJ Hall of Fame in 2014, attorney and politician Jim Florio (1937–2022) was our 49th governor. For years, Florio and his wife Lucinda lived in Metuchen, and were often seen strolling its streets, and shopping or dining in Metuchen’s downtown. Jim and Lucinda Florio moved to South Jersey in 2017.

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J. SEWARD JOHNSON II
Sculptor and philanthropist J. Seward Johnson II (1930–2020) was born and raised in New Brunswick. He did not become a Johnson & Johnson business mogul like others in his prominent family. Instead, Seward Johnson pursued the arts and is best known for creating life-like bronze sculptures. Five of his creations are now on display in nearby Westfield. He was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2013.

LEON HESS
Born in Asbury Park, entrepreneur Leon Hess (1914-1999) became synonymous with Middlesex County, and especially Woodbridge . As a young man, before World War II, he built his first oil terminal in Perth Amboy. He grew his business into what became the Woodbridge-based Amerada Hess Corp., until it folded in 1995. Hess was part of a consortium that bought the New York Jets, and he was chiefly responsible for moving the Jets to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford in 1984. Hess was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011.

KEVIN J. HOAGLAND
Inducted into the NJ Hall of Fame in 2017, Kevin J. Hoagland, now 64, from New Brunswick was Middlesex County Surrogate for 28 years. Elected at age 33 in 1992, he retired from public life in 2020. Hoagland came from a politically influential Middlesex County family. His father, John Hoagland (1930-2015), was a Middlesex County freeholder from 1962-67 and the county’s chief legal counsel for a dozen years.

RALPH IZZO
Businessman and nuclear physicist Ralph Izzo, 66, now lives in Cranbury Township. Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2022, Izzo is the former CEO, president and board chairman of Public Service Enterprise Group (PSE&G), headquartered in New Jersey. He is also chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington DC-based trade association.

JACK HOWARD JACOBS
Raised in Woodbridge, U.S. Army hero Jack Howard Jacobs, now 79, was awarded the Medal of Honor, two Silver Stars, three Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts for his service during two tours of duty in Vietnam. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015. He retired from military service as an Army Colonel. A graduate of Woodbridge High School, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Rutgers University, enrolling in its ROTC program and entering the Army in 1966 as a 2nd lieutenant.

JOYCE KILMER
A 2019 Hall of Fame honoree, New Brunswick-born poet and journalist Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) is best known for his 12-line poem “Trees,” published in 1913 and still taught to school children today. Many U.S. schools and parks are named for Joyce Kilmer. His downtown New Brunswick home is a museum on the National Register of Historic Places and a tourist attraction. A sergeant in the “Fighting 69th” Army Infantry, Kilmer was killed in action in 1918 in France.

ERIC LeGRAND
One of Woodbridge’s favorite celebrities, Eric LeGrand, now 33, is a downtown business owner, entrepreneur and motivational speaker. Born and raised in Avenel, this former Rutgers football defensive tackle suffered a severe spinal cord injury in a 2010 Scarlet Knights game at MetLife Stadium. Overcoming adversity, LeGrand now inspires others to rise above their challenges. He was inducted into the NJ Hall of Fame in 2012.

HEATHER O’REILLY
Professional soccer star Heather O’Reilly, now 39, was born and raised in East Brunswick. A graduate of St. Bartholomew’s School and East Brunswick High, where she was in the National Honor Society and a varsity soccer and basketball player. Inducted into the NJ Hall of Fame in 2022, O’Reilly won three Olympic gold medals on the 2004 U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team in Athens; the 2008 team in Beijing; and the 2012 team in London. She retired from competitive soccer in 2019 to become a FOX News Sports analyst.

ANNA QUINDLEN
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen, now 71, grew up in South Brunswick and is a 1970 South Brunswick High School alumni. Quindlen – a best-selling author – is a nationally-known journalist, columnist, and editor. She began her career as “a copygirl” at family-owned Home News in New Brunswick. She wrote news briefs and features for the Home News, before being hired at the New York Post and later at the New York Times, where she became an editor and columnist.

THE SMITHEREENS
Still rocking after 44 years, The Smithereens got their start in Carteret . Original band members: Guitarist Jim Babjak, drummer Dennis Diken (drums) and bass player Mike Mesaros were 1975 Carteret High School graduates. They formed the Smithereens in 1980 with lead vocalist Pat DiNizio, from Scotch Plains, who died at age 62 in 2017. The Smithereens, inducted into the NJ Hall of Fame in 2018, have an upcoming performance at the Carteret Performing Arts & Events Center on Dec. 7. For more information, visit The Smitherereens website.

2024’s NJ HALL of FAME
The New Jersey Hall of Fame plans to induct its newest honorees later this year, with a prerecorded red-carpet ceremony to air on Wednesday, Nov. 13 on Fox 5 My9 and stream on social media. Promotional events, open to the public, will be held throughout the summer. The Hall of Fame displays a number of exhibits about the Garden State’s most notable celebs from various fields. To be inducted this year are:
● Actress Meryl Streep, 75, born in Summit, NJ; raised in Basking Ridge.
● Actor Paul Rudd, 55, born in Passaic, NJ.
● Dick Button, Olympic Gold Medal figure skater/commentator; Englewood
● Peter Cancro, founder of Jersey Mike’s, Point Pleasant.
● Elizabeth Coleman-White, botanist from Whitesbog.
● George Cooney, a screen industry entrepreneur from Bogota.
● Rev. Edwin D. Leahy, headmaster of St. Benedict's Prep in Newark.
● Singer Lesley Gore, Academy/Grammy Award nominee from Tenafly
● Ron Johnson, former Giants running back, from Madison.
● Donald Katz, founder of Audible, Inc. in Newark.
● Warren Littlefield, NBC entertainment president from Montclair.
● John Forbes Nash, a Princeton Nobel Peace Prize winning economist.
● Kevin Smith, a director, producer and writer from Red Bank.
● Phil Simms, former Giants quarterback/sports analyst, from Franklin Lakes.
● Gay Talese, journalist and author, from Ocean City.
● Geraldine Morgan Thompson, Lincroft philanthropist/social reformer.
● Avi Wigderson, a Princeton mathematician/computer scientist.

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