Patti Smith, Lesley Gore, Mary Chapin Carpenter among NJ Hall of Fame’s class of ’21

by JAY LUSTIG

ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE

PATTI SMITH

The New Jersey Hall of Fame, has announced it class of 2021, and it will include Patti Smith, Alexander Hamilton, Lesley Gore, Antonin Scalia, Gay Talese, Monte Irvin and many others.

In a nice touch, Smith’s longtime guitarist Lenny Kaye — also known as a solo artist, an author, and the producer of the seminal 1972 garage-rock and psychedelic-rock double-album compilatoin, Nuggets — will be inducted along with her.

The induction ceremony will be virtual, as it was last year, and will be broadcast on television, radio and social media in October.

Here is the complete list of inductees. Asterisks (*) denote people who are being inducted posthumously, while two asterisks (**) mean the person was previously selected for induction but is being formally inducted this year. The descriptions are taken from a hall of fame press release.

ARTS & LETTERS

Dorothea Lange*, Hoboken, documentary photographer
Anne Morrow Lindbergh*, Englewood, author and aviator
John Forbes Nash Jr.*, Princeton, mathematician
Gay Talese, Ocean City, writer and journalist

ENTERPRISE

Madeline McWhinney Dale*, Middletown, first female officer/vice-president of the Federal Reserve Bank
Madam Louise Scott*, Newark, founder of Scott School of Beauty Culture & chain of beauty salons
Paul Volcker*, Teaneck, 12th Chair of the Federal Reserve
Sara Spencer Washington*, Atlantic City, founder of Apex News and Hair Company

PERFORMING ARTS
George Benson, Englewood, jazz guitarist, singer, and songwriter
Sarah Dash, Trenton, award-winning vocalist who co-founded Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles
Lesley Gore*, Tenafly, singer, songwriter, actress, and activist
Buddy Hackett*, Fort Lee, actor and comedian
Patti Smith, Pitman/Deptford Township, and Lenny Kaye, New Brunswick, Legendary singer-songwriter and her longtime guitarist who were part of the New York City punk rock movement in the 1970s
Mary Chapin Carpenter**, Princeton, country music singer

PUBLIC SERVICE
Margaret Bancroft*, Haddonfield, founder of Bancroft, nonprofit serving individuals with disabilities
Alexander Hamilton*, Elizabeth, founding father and first secretary of the treasury
David Mixner, Elmer, political activist and author
William Paterson*, South Branch, signer of the U.S. Constitution, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and 2nd Governor of New Jersey
Gustave F. Perna, Rockaway, U.S. Army four-star general/COO of the federal COVID-19 response
Antonin Scalia*, Trenton, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1986 until his death in 2016

SPORTS
Val Ackerman, Pennington, first president of the Women’s National Basketball Association
Monte Irvin*, Orange, left and right fielder in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball who played with the Newark Eagles, New York Giants and Chicago Cubs
Ron Jaworski, Voorhees, former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and National Football League (NFL) analyst

For information, visit njhalloffame.org.

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