Raleigh Hall of Fame gets new members

13 residents, club to be inducted

Tonight, 13 Raleigh residents and the Raleigh Garden Club will be inducted into the Raleigh Hall of Fame. The residents range from a former N.C. State chancellor to a former News & Observer publisher to the founder of Raleigh's First Night celebration.

The ceremony will be the first dinner held in Raleigh's new convention center.

"Because of their leadership and generous spirits, our community is a stronger and more vibrant place in which to live, learn and do business," said L. Merritt Jones, chairman of the Raleigh Hall of Fame board.

Mayor Charles Meeker will present each inductee with an acorn-shaped medallion. The residents join 39 other individuals who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame since 2005, Jones said. Five nonprofit organizations have also been inducted.

The inductees are:

RICHARD 'DICK' BELL. A landscape architect, he designed the N.C. State University Brickyard and the serpentine wall at St. Mary's School. He also constructed an 11-acre water garden complex on Glenwood Avenue, one of Raleigh's first mixed-use developments.

JOHN TYLER CALDWELL. During his tenure as N.C. State University chancellor from 1959 to 1975, Caldwell calmed racial tensions and civil unrest and nearly doubled the student and faculty populations. The curriculum expanded to include the School of Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics, and the university offered degree programs in the humanities and social sciences. Caldwell died in 1995.

ELIZABETH BIAS COFIELD. She was the first African-American elected to the city's Board of Education and the first African-American woman elected to the Wake County Board of Commissioners. Affectionately known as "Ma Cofield," she worked for 40 years as a professor and administrator at Shaw University.

FRANK DANIELS JR. AND JULIA DANIELS. The couple have worked for the N.C. museums of art, history and natural sciences, and both are backers of downtown gentrification and historic preservation. Julia Daniels is chairwoman of the National Trust Council of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Frank Daniels was president and publisher of The News and Observer Publishing Co. for about 25 years.

ALICE AND THAD EURE JR. They established the Foundation of Hope, an organization dedicated to funding breakthroughs in the treatment of mental illness. The Eures also created some of Raleigh's best-known restaurants: the Angus Barn, the Darryl's chain, 42nd Street Oyster Bar, Fat Daddy's and Border Cafe. Alice Eure died of cancer in 1997, and Thad Eure died of cancer in 1988.

BARBARA AND JAMES GOODMON. She is president of the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, which supports the arts and nonprofit groups dedicated to social progress. She also is a founder of The Healing Place of Wake County, a residential facility for homeless people with alcohol and drug addiction. Jim Goodmon is president and CEO of Capitol Broadcasting Co., which owns WRAL-TV and the Durham Bulls minor league baseball club.

MARGARET S. HAYWOOD. As chairwoman of the city's Historic Properties and Districts Commission in the '70s and '80s, she secured historic landmark designations for structures throughout the city. She was involved with the Mordecai House renovations and worked to move the remains of Raleigh founding father Joel Lane to the city cemetery. She was also the volunteer curator of Haywood Hall.

W. CASPER HOLROYD JR. As chairman of the Raleigh school board in the mid-1970s, he worked through school desegregation and merged the Raleigh and Wake County school systems. Holroyd also served four terms in the N.C. House of Representatives.

ANN HASSINGER SMITH. She founded First Night Raleigh, the city's New Year's Eve celebration. In 1980, she planned a statewide education conference known as Arts and the Child, which brought together artists and elected officials to discuss the importance of arts education. Smith also planned the Elizabethan Festival for America's 400th Anniversary at Kitty Hawk and Manteo in 1984.

G. WESLEY WILLIAMS. He served as executive director of the Raleigh Merchants Association for 50 years until his retirement in 1990. He organized the Downtown Raleigh Development Corp. (now the Downtown Raleigh Alliance). During his more than 60 years with the Raleigh Civitan Club, Williams helped establish the Raleigh Boys Club. He also helped found Hilltop Home, a residence for children with severe disabilities.

THE RALEIGH GARDEN CLUB. For more than 80 years, it has funded projects across the city, including maintenance of the chapel garden at Dorothea Dix Hospital, the Martha Franck Fragrance Garden at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind, azaleas at Fred Fletcher Park and cherry trees at Pullen Park. It also donating start-up funds in 1968 for the Rose Garden at Raleigh Little Theater.