The annual Nutley Hall of Fame was a festive, sometimes bittersweet event, filled with the accomplishments of both contemporary and deceased Nutley natives.
This year, former and current Nutley-ites were feted for their many achievements, including volunteerism; achievements in science; the arts including music and design, and much more.
Always held in the Nutley Public Library, this year's award ceremony once again wowed the crowd, as the accomplishments of the 10 inductees, 3 posthumously, were read aloud.
Here are the biographies of these esteemed inductees, all male this year for some reason.
This year’s inductees included an award winning interior designer, Anthony Baratta, Jr.; a famous musician and drummer, John Barbata (deceased) who played with numerous bands including The Turtles, Crosby stills, Nash & Young, The Sentinels and Jefferson Airplane; a film producer and historian; Nutley resident Anthony J. Iannarone, a world wide expert in vitamin regulations, corporate lawyer and well known volunteer, among other accomplishments; the renowned founder of “Southwest Medical Teams”, Anthony La Forgis; revered artist Michael Lenson (deceased), whose work is known internationally; a highly accomplished journalist, Steve Politi, who actually once worked on the high school newspaper; classical pianist Raphael Rudd, deceased, an internationally known musician; and professional wrestler Joseph Luke Scarpa, also deceased.
Read the full feature story in the Nutley Journal Thursday.
The nine inductees are:
• Anthony Baratta Jr., a 1977 graduate of Nutley High School and four years later of Fordham University. One of America's foremost leaders of interior designs, Mr. Baratta's work has been published by the New York Times Magazine and the Architectural Digest, among others. He and his partner, William, were honored with Benjamin Moore's "Hue Award" for lifetime achievement in design. Today Anthony and his new company, Anthony Baratta LLC, plan on many more years of creating unique and inspiring interiors.
• John Barbata, a life-long Nutley resident, is a world-class musician, a drummer, whose extraordinary life began at the age of three, when he met Albert Einstein, to the present and after several years of playing with many of the top bands in America including Jefferson Starship, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Linda Ronstadt, the Everly Brothers and Joni Mitchell, to name a few.
• Michael Hirsch, film producer and historian, co-produced, researched and wrote the script for the acclaimed documentary "Triangle: Remembering the Fire." The film won the DuPont Award and after 100 years resulted in the victims of the horrific New York City fire being identified with properly marked and named graves.
A 1975 graduate of Nutley High School, Mr. Hirsch presently is working on a new project for HBO which will chronicle the poli-economic concerns of our times. This past May he was asked to co-author the Op-Ed page for the Los Angeles Times. His highly acclaimed photography also has led to his current position as photo editor of McGraw Hill's 'Business Week' publication.
• Anthony J. Iannarone, a graduate of Rutgers University with high honors, Anthony went on to earn a Juris Doctor's Degree, scoring one of the highest grades ever recorded on the state bar exam. He joined Hoffmann LaRoche in Nutley where he rapidly developed expertise in the regulation of vitamins and dietary foods. He is particularly proud of his submissions on folic acid to prevent spina bifida and other defects in children. He was considered by many be the leading expert on vitamin regulations, not only in the United States, but world-wide. In May 1949 he lost both his hands in an laboratory accident at the Rutgers University. He returned to Rutgers in September 1951, was elected class president, and was graduated with a host of high honors.
• Anthony (Barry) LaForgia, spent his childhood and early adult life in Nutley. A 1963 high honors graduate of St. Peter's Prep, he went on to fly more than 100 war-time missions in Vietnam before earning a law degree from the University of San Diego. While serving as legal counsel for various real estate companies in California, Anthony participated in a mission trip to Peru where he helped construct shelters for the impoverished people living in the Amazon Jungle.
Returning to San Diego, he embarked on a new mission, leaving his law and real estate practice to launch "Southwest Medical Teams," an organization aimed at linking people in need with teams of volunteers, beginning first in Mexico, Jamaica and Armenia, and later expanding to 65 countries including the United States, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, Asia, the South Pacific and Africa. Construction teams were even sent to the New Jersey Shore to help in the rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Sandy.
Barry presently resides in the San Diego area with his wife, Kennette, and his two sons, Ivan and Erik.
• Michael Lenson, an artist, was taking a stroll with some friends near the Mudhole in Nutley when he noticed a large skylight window behind the house at 16 Enclosure. He knew that such large northern-facing windows were a feature of only the best artists' studios. He went to investigate and discovered that the house was for sale. Lenson purchased the house and made it both his studio and home for the next 30 years.
Born in Russia, Lenson came to America in 1911, living in New York City and studying at the National Academy of Design. He won the coveted $10,000 Chaloner Foundation Prize enabling him to travel to Paris, London, the Netherlands and Spain while studying at the Academie des Beaux arts in Paris. Returning to America in 1932, he began work on an immense mural measuring 15 x 75 feet for the Ve a perfect studio in a perfect town. Both he and his wife, June, loved raising their sons in Nutley and loved taking part in town activities. His son Barry is currectly director of the Nutley Museum and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Nutley Historical Society.
• Steve Politi, a journalist, was twice named as one of the top 10 top columnists in the United States by the Associated Press. He has covered major events on four different continents for the Star Ledger of Newark including every major sporting event from the Olympics to the Super Bowl. A 1990 graduate of Nutley High School, Politti started his journalism career at the age of 15 at the Nutley Sun covering high school sporting events. Among his proudest achievements was his winning a National Headliner Award for a series he wrote about the exploitation of Nigerian basketball players.
Steve and his wife, Nancy, have two children. Steve lived the first half of his life in Nutley and now "live just up the road in Montclair."
• Raphael Rudd, now deceased, was a classically trained international pianist and harpist, first gaining fame for his work with music virtuoso Pete Townsend of the Who and later conducting his own musical arrangements with the London Symphony Orchestra for the album Quadrophenia.
Beside his work with Townsend, Rudd worked with Annie Haslam and Renaissance from the late 1980's to early 1990's.?Raphael Rudd was an assistant professor of Music at Rutgers University and a favorite pianist and harpist entertaining throughout New Jersey and most notably at the Oakside-Bloomfield Cultural Center.??In 2002, Raphael Rudd suffered a life-altering injury in a car accident and died from a coma at the age of 45.??• Joseph Luke Scarpa, a professional wrestler for the World Wresting Entertainment and the National Wrestling Alliance, was inducted into the Professional Hall of Fame in 2009 and the New England Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2011. He wrestled under several names including the "Rebel," "Joltin Joe Scarpa," and "Chief Jay Strongbow," or simply just "The Chief."??During the heyday of televised wrestling matches, Scarpa won dozens of multiple tag-team championships with his name becoming a household word across the country. After five decades of wrestling, Scarpa retired from the ring in 1985. He died in 2012 at the age of 83 years.?
