Hall of Fame 2009 Inductees

Michele Oka Doner, eldest daughter of Miami Beach’s late Mayor Ken Oka, is an internationally acclaimed artist whose prolific career spans four decades. Much of her artwork is infused with oceanic and other natural forms drawn from her childhood. Her work has been acquired by major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC); Art Institute of Chicago; the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (the Louvre).

Doner is renowned for her numerous public art installations, including A Walk on the Beach at the Miami International Airport (1995-2010), Flight, Ronald Regan International Airport; and installations at US courthouses and public libraries, among many others. With Mitchell Wolfson Jr., she coauthored Miami Beach: Blueprint of an Eden (2004-6). She has received numerous awards and maintains studios in New York and Miami Beach.

Dr. Christopher C. Gallen was a pioneer in brain functional imaging as an academician at The Scripps Research Institute. Through his lab-- the first to prove that the brain can reorganize after injury-- he acted as a scientific support for the successful NASDAQ IPO of Biomagnetic Technology Inc. As a result, he started the premier Worldwide Clinical Research Organization, and grew it to become a public NASDAQ company. Moving on to big pharma at Pharmacia and Wyeth, he helped move both companies to the top of the pharmaceutical industry. Currently the CEO of Neuromed, Dr. Gallen is developing products to treat pain, dementia, depression, epilepsy and hypertension, with therapeutics like Aricept, Xanax XR, Periostat and Axert. Most recently, Dr. Chris Gallen has completed an important NASDAQ merger to create the newest Pharmaceutical company: CombinatoRx. He is most proud of being named by PharmaVoice as one of the "100 Most Inspiring People in the Life Sciences”.

Andrew C. Hall specializes in complex trial work. Over the last twenty years, he has been further recognized as one of the world's experts in suing and collecting from nations that sponsor terrorism.

Andy was born Andrzej Horowitz in a Warsaw, Poland, basement in 1944 when his Jewish father was posing with forged papers as a gentile and his mother and 9-year-old brother hid in an office closet. They escaped through sewers to Krakow and then to Germany in 1946, were separated and reunited, and took the Hall name in an Ellis Island-style change. His challenging early years would frame his legal career.

He defended John D. Ehrlichman at the “Watergate” trials; Ambassador Marvin Warner during the collapse of Ohio's state-insured savings and loan industry; and has represented many Fortune “500” companies as well as individuals on massive litigation issues. Andy Hall's lobbying, litigating, negotiating and creating new laws to protect US citizens worldwide paved his way to win cases against Iraq (after Gulf War One), Libya and Sudan.

He has successfully represented each family of the 17 sailors killed from the attack on the USS Cole.

Andrew Hall, a Holocaust survivor and lawyer from Miami who pursued anti-terror cases, died on Monday, Sept. 16, his 75th birthday.

Mayor Larry Klein was named All-County-Honorable-Mention in football at Beach High. He graduated from Cornell University and Harvard Law School.

After time in the Army, Larry settled in Palo Alto, California. An early environmentalist, he became active in open space preservation issues. One of the nine co-founders of the publicly funded Mid Peninsula Regional Open Space District, Larry and the MPROSD acquired nearly 60,000 acres (90 square miles).

Larry was the City Council’s point person in bringing Super Bowl XIX to Stanford/Palo Alto in 1985, and as Mayor oversaw its preparations. After retiring from the Council in 1989, Larry later served as CEO of Palo Alto’s profitable Centennial and for that work was named Palo Alto’s Citizen of the Year in 1994. Larry was “recycled” to the City Council in 2005 and again chosen Mayor in 2008. Under his leadership, Palo Alto has adopted a mandatory Green Building ordinance that is serving as a national model.

Dr. Isadore Newman is an Emeritus Distinguished Professor at The University of Akron, where he taught advanced research courses and Ph.D. research seminars for 35 years and served as the research methodologist or chair on over 300 doctoral dissertation committees. He has an endowed research fellowship at The University of Akron named in his honor and he was the recipient of the Harrington Endowed Chair for the College of Education. Dr. Newman has been a Visiting Scholar in the College of Education at Florida International University and he was an Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of Human Development and Molecular Genetics, Florida International University, College of Medicine. During his professional career he has written 17 books and chapters on research, published over 175 referred articles and presented more than 300 refereed papers at professional conferences. He has also evaluated over $10 million in single and multi-site grants.

Dr. Newman was one of the founding editors of the MidWestern Educational Researcher Journal, editor of the Ohio Journal of Science, and was editor of Multiple Linear Regression Viewpoints Journal for 19 years and he is currently Editor Emeritus. He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Mixed Methods Research, Journal of Applied Christian Leadership, and other editorial boards in his field.

Among his honors, Dr. Isadore Newman received the Outstanding Teaching Award for The University of Akron, the Outstanding Research Award from The University of Akron, College of Education, the Outstanding Evaluator Award from the State of Ohio Department of Mental Health, the Outstanding Alumni Award from Southern Illinois University, and an Outstanding Reviewer Award from the Educational Researcher, an American Educational Research Association publication. In addition, he has been an Invited Scholar at eleven universities and the Keynote speaker at several professional conferences and universities.

Currently, Isadore is serving as the research meteorologist for approximately 16 doctoral students at multiple universities, reviewing manuscripts for six professional journals, serving as a consultant on several research proposals and as the evaluating methodologists on a number of grants. He also is continuing to write and publish on research methodology and how to mentor researchers.

Stephen M. Ross is the Chairman, CEO and Founder of Related Companies, the most prominent privately owned real estate firm in the United States, having developed over $20 billion in real estate, with offices and landmark developments in New York, California, Chicago and South Florida. Mr. Ross is also the principal owner of the Miami Dolphins and Stadium.

Mr. Ross graduated from University of Michigan, Wayne State University Law School and New York University School of Law. In 2004, the University of Michigan renamed its business school the Stephen M. Ross School of Business. His extensive business, civic and philanthropic activities are unsurpassed, being Chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), a board trustee of the Guggenheim Museum, a trustee of New York Presbyterian Hospital, the Urban Land Institute, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, the Levin Institute, and serving on the Executive Committee of Lincoln Center. He’s a director of the Jackie Robinson Foundation and the World Resources Institute. The Observer named Mr. Ross the top New Yorker on its list of the 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate.

Dr. Telson is presently Vice President for Energy programs at General Atomics of San Diego, CA. in its DC office. Before that, he was Director of National Laboratory Affairs for the University of California in its Washington Office of Federal Governmental Relations from 2002-10. He was responsible for managing the Federal legislative issues involving the three national laboratories managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) including the Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories.

He previously served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the U.S. DOE from October of 1997, after confirmation by the U.S. Senate, through May of 2001. He managed the relationship between the Department and: the Office of Management and Budget (OMB); four congressional appropriations subcommittees; DOE’s Inspector General; and the GAO. He reported directly to Secretaries Pena, Richardson and Abraham advising them on all financial matters including the preparation and execution of DOE's nearly $20 billion annual budget, and all reprogramming requests. As CFO, he directed a staff of more than 200 also covering a number of other activities including: project management oversight; strategic planning; privatization (including the sale of the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve, the initial public offering of stock in the U.S. Enrichment Corporation, several environmental management privatization projects, and third party financing of new DOE facilities, including for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory); payroll; and financial statement issues.

He was at the DOE from January, 1995 through May, 2001. Prior to his confirmation, he served as a Special Assistant to the Secretary, and before that to the Deputy Secretary.

Before the DOE, he served as a senior analyst on the staff of the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives. He was responsible for reviewing energy, science, and space issues in the federal budget including the programs of the DOE, the NSF, and NASA, government-wide R&D policy, and certain user fee programs (including FCC spectrum auction issues). He was with the Budget Committee from 1975 to 1995.

In the 95th Congress, he also served as the Staff Economist of the House Ad Hoc Committee on Energy, created to help enact the 1978 National Energy Act. In the 96th Congress, he also served as Staff Coordinator of the Speaker's Task Force on Energy created to deal with problems relating to the 1979 oil shortages. Dr. Telson served one year (1973-74) as a Congressional Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) with the U.S. Senate Energy Committee. He holds Ph.D., E.E., M.S., and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering from MIT, and a Master's degree in management from the Sloan School of Management. He was a Hertz Fellow throughout his graduate studies. He is a member of the Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, and Etta Kappa Nu, scientific, engineering, and electrical engineering honorary societies.

In 1999, he was elected AAAS Fellow “for distinguished contributions in the formulation of science and technology policies and budgets and in interpretation of these policies and budgets to the scientific community.” In 2004, he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society “for his contributions as both a senior congressional staffer, and a senior official in the US Department of Energy, to the support of the physical sciences in the US.”

In January of 2001, Energy Secretary Richardson recognized his contributions by giving him the “Meritorious Service” and “Superior Performance” Awards, and in October of 2001, Secretary Abraham gave him DOE’s “Gold Medal for Excellence.” He was elected Senior Fellow of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics in 2002. He has served on the AAAS Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy (COSEPP), and several National Academy of Sciences study panels.