The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Bridgewater, NJ- The Somerset Patriots have announced that team Chairman Emeritus Steve Kalafer has been nominated for the 2019-2020 New Jersey Hall of Fame Class.
“I have used this line before, but for the Academy Awards, it’s an honor to just be nominated,” said Kalafer. “In all seriousness, to even be considered as a Hall of Fame nominee in the state I have lived and worked my entire life is a tremendous honor for my entire family. I am humbled and extremely grateful.”
Kalafer joins a prestigious list of nominees in the categories of Art & Letters, Enterprise, Performing Arts, Public Service, and Sports. Kalafer is one of ten individuals representing the Enterprise category. Some notable names on the ballot include Eli Manning, Mike Trout, C. Vivian Stringer, Bob Mulcahy, Joyce Kilmer, and Paul Anka to name a few.
Now through June 30th, public voting will take place to hear from residents who they believe should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Public voting is one of the considerations used in selecting inductees, but the highest vote getter in each category is automatically selected. Voting can take place here: https://njhalloffame.org/2019-nominee-voting.
The inductees will be announced in July, and a virtual induction ceremony is planned for October.
Kalafer is the Chairman of the Flemington Car and Truck Country Family of Brands with showrooms and service centers in eight locations and 17 franchises. He is the Chairman Emeritus of the Somerset Health Care Foundation and serves on the Board Of Directors of RWJBarnabas Health. Kalafer is an Associate Trustee of the board of New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance, a Co-Chair of the Chairman’s Council of The Actors Fund of America, and recently retired as a trustee of the Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation. He and his wife Suzanne have two sons, Jonathan and Josh, and five grandsons.
The New Jersey Hall of Fame celebrates natives of the state that have overcome every imaginable obstacle and challenge. They have survived war, overcome the bleakness of poverty, conquered fear and disability and rebounded from untold rejections and failure. Their stories offer boundless hope and inspiration for millions of New Jerseyans. The New Jersey Hall of Fame “invites you to learn and interact with these inspired lives to chart your own path to extraordinary greatness.”
