The Derby Hall of Fame is made up of Derby natives and residents who have helped to shape the course of history through their achievements at the local, state, national or international level. Each of these individuals selected was either born in Derby or lived here at some point in his/her life. Living individuals are not eligible for selection.

You can nominate someone anytime by clicking here to send an e-mail. Please make sure that you provide biographical information about the person that you are nominating and not just a name. Nominations are kept on file for three years.

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Derby Announces Class of 2023

The 17th anniversary class for the Derby Hall of Fame chosen by the Hall of Fame Committee brings the number of Hall members to 63. The official announcement of the new class each year coincides with Derby's birthday on May 13. Each of the members is memorialized with a brick on the plaza at the entrance to the Derby Greenway.

In announcing the 2023 class, Mayor Dziekan said, “As the city begins to plan for its 350th birthday in two years, it's fitting that we honor two of the great chroniclers of Derby history and a woman who was an incredible trail blazer in making history for herself and for Derby." He praised the work of Samuel Orcutt and Leo T. Molloy whose writings captured the history or the city from the Colonial and Revolutionary periods right through to the 1930s. Mary Portis broke new ground as the first Afro-American female Boy Scout executive in the entire country when she became the head of the Housatonic Council Boy Scouts of America in 1990.

Click here to learn more about the Class of 2023.

In 2015 the Derby High School Athletic Hall of Fame was started, and you can learn more about that here. Two members of the City Hall of Fame were also in the inaugural class of the High School Athletic Hall.


The Hall of Fame is part of this plaza on the Derby Greenway.

The initial class of eleven individuals was inducted into the Hall of Fame on September 1, 2007. Click here for the story. Click the year to read more about each: 

2007  2008   2009  2010   2011  2012   2013   2014   2015   2016   2017   2018   2019  2020  2021 2022  2023

Derby Hall of Fame

Click on the links to read about their accomplishments.

  James B. Atwater Leo T. Molloy
Bassett, Ebenezer Samuel Orcutt
Dr. Ambrose Beardsley  Patrick B. O'Sullivan
Rev. John Bowes HeadstoneRev. John Bowers Major Wilbur Fiske Osborne
Henry M. Bradley, Jr. Graham Peck
Edward J. Cotter Anson Phelps
John Clewes Dr. Albert Phillips
Giuseppe Cusano Mary T.Portis
DeFilippo, Lou Leo F. "Nuggy" Ryan
Brian Dennehy Henry Shelton Sanford
  Jerry Denny quiz13.jpg (7254 bytes) Edward N. Shelton
Rev. John Jordan Dillon

Jane DeForest Shelton

Herbert Henry Dow Bob Skoronski
WilliamF. Durand Sheldon Smith 
  Dr. Robert Feeney Ann Stephens 
Quosh Freeman Charles Sterling
 Frank Gates John Storrs 
Molly Hatchett Edmund Strang
Harry Haugh Dr. Joseph Stygar
Josiah Holbrook George P. Sullivan
Dr. John Ireland Howe David Torrance
David Humphreys Donald Waldhaus
Commodore Isaac Hull Horace Weston
Orson Hyde Joseph Wheeler
Col. George H. Kneen Stephen Whitney
Clara Louise Kellogg William Whitney
Frances Osborne Kellogg J. Newton Williams
James D. Kennedy Frank P. Witek
Pierre Lallement Edward Wooster
Reverend Richard Mansfield William B. Wooster
James McKenzie Harold Yudkin
Joseph L. Hong Moo  

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