In Memoriam

To deceased persons who deserve recognition for their special contributions to Baltimore history

The 2025 honorees

Margaret L. Budd

In 1987, Margaret Budd founded and managed one of the most inspired and enduring concert series in Baltimore, the Second Presbyterian Concert Series, renamed Community Concerts at Second in 2002. It is now in its 38th season. She recorded a CD on Second Presbyterian’s Casavant organ in 1996. In 2006, Baltimore Sun music critic Tim Smith described her as” one of the shining lights of Baltimore's cultural life.” Margaret earned her Master's degree in Organ Performance and Church Music with highest honors, including Phi Kappa Lambda, from Northwestern School of Music. She was granted a Fulbright Scholarship for organ study in Europe with the renowned Flor Peters, but instead decided to (in her words) “combine teaching, performance, and church work with the raising of our wonderful family” of five children. She taught hundreds of piano and organ students, and performed to acclaim throughout the Chicago area, the East Coast and Europe.

Helena Hicks

Helena Hicks was a gifted and dedicated public service executive, community organizer, and educator. While attending Morgan State College in January, 1955, she and five other students were waiting to catch a bus to school and decided to go into Reads Drug Store to get out of the cold and get something to eat. Reads was a white only establishment at the time and refused them service. The students refused to leave until they were escorted out by the police. Soon, Reads decided to integrate all of their lunch counters across the country. This action preceded the well-known 1960 sit-in at Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina. She will be remembered as a President of the Grove Park Neighborhood Association and as a Commissioner for The Baltimore Historic Preservation Commission. Up until her mid-eighties, she was battling to save Grove Park Elementary School from public sale, and she worked to protect the Powder Mill Stream from runoff pollution.

Glenard (Glen) Middleton

Glenard (Glen) Middleton is being honored for his unwavering dedication to the working class and his transformative leadership in Baltimore’s labor movement. As president of AFSCME Local 44 and later Council 67, Glen championed the rights of public service workers with grit, vision, and heart. He fought tirelessly for fair wages, safe working conditions, and dignity on the job, never backing down from a challenge. Under his leadership, thousands of workers found a stronger voice and greater solidarity. Glen didn’t just negotiate contracts—he built a movement rooted in justice and community. He trained new leaders, stood firm against injustice, and ensured that labor had a seat at every important table. His legacy is not only in the victories he helped win, but in the spirit of unity and power he sparked among everyday workers. Glen Middleton was a true advocate, a servant leader, and a cornerstone of Baltimore’s labor history.

Betty Garman Robinson

Betty Garman Robinson is being honored for a lifetime of bold, unwavering commitment to justice. A true civil rights leader, she began her journey in the 1960s with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and never stopped fighting for the rights of the underserved and disenfranchised. In Baltimore and beyond, Betty has been a force for grassroots organizing, racial equity, and community empowerment. She has mentored generations of young activists, linking past struggles to present movements with clarity and conviction. Her work bridges the civil rights era and today’s fight for social justice, proving that real change comes from the ground up. Whether organizing protests, educating communities, or building coalitions, Betty led with integrity, passion, and purpose. This honor recognizes not just her decades of service, but her enduring impact on Baltimore’s conscience and spirit. Betty Garman Robinson was the living embodiment of the power of people-driven change.

Anthony Wann Williams

Anthony Wann Williams was a relentless advocate for the basic human and civil rights of poor and unhoused people, and he was passionately committed to ending homelessness. Born in Baltimore, he spent his youth in the foster care system. He became an expert on homelessness through living in the shelter system, on the street, and squatting in vacant buildings. Devoted to housing justice, Williams served as the Co-Chair of The Journey Home, Baltimore's Continuum of Care HUD program, a member of Housing Our Neighbors, a homeless-led group, on the Resident Advisory Board for the Baltimore Housing Authority, and a commissioner for the Baltimore City Affordable Housing Trust Fund. He also worked with the Common Ground Community Land Trust to establish permanently affordable housing for people making 0-30% of the Area Median Income. A gifted leader, he motivated and trained others to support this work. In 2016, his personal journals were adapted into an original play, The King of Howard Street, that was performed at the Annex Theatre.

Past Honorees, in alphabetical order

Hon. Rosalie Silber Abrams (2010)

Hon. Victorine Q. Adams (2007)

Jody Albright (2017)

Margaret Phyllis DeMan Armstrong (2017)

Joseph Arnold (2007)

Rosa L. Barber (2021)

Evelyn T. Beasley (2020)

Charles Blackburn (2018)

Esther Bonnet (2018)

Hon. Clarence H. (Du) Burns (2008)

Agnes Callum (2016)

Edward A. Chance (2003)

John “Buzz” Chriest (2024)

Marshall “Eddie” Conway (2024)

James Cooper (2012)

James Crockett (2020)

Thomas Cripps (2019)

Samuel T. Daniels (2006)

Verna Day-Jones (2010)

Arthur James ("The Bulldog”) Donovan (2014)

John Dorsey (2008)

Rhoda Dorsey (2015)

Martin A. Dyer (2012)

Ethel Ennis (2020)

Homer E. Favor (2014)

Lucretia Fisher (2012)

Bea Gaddy (2004)

Kirk Gaddy, Sr. (2021)

Willie Alexander Harry (2013)

Jean Hepner (2014)

Ronald Hoffman (2019)

Hon. Mabel Hubbard (2007)

Wilbur Harvey Hunter, Jr. (2009)

Jerry Hynson (2018)

Lillie M. Carroll Jackson (2004)

Georgeanna Seegar Jones (2005)

Gregory Kane (2014)

Rev. Richard Lawrence (2021)

Karen Lewand (2013)

Mack Lewis (2011)

Rabbi Mark G. Loeb (2011)

Hon. Thurgood Marshall (2004)

Esther E. McCready (2021)

Ralph McGuire (2010)

Valeri McNeal (2015)

Sally Michel (2019)

Raoul Middleman (2022)

Bishop Douglas Miles (2022)

Meredith Plant Millspaugh (2017)

George E. Mitchell Sr. (2021)

Hon. Parren J. Mitchell (2008)

William L. Moore (2003)

Frances L. Murphy, II (2009)

Robert John Nowlin (2024)

Delfina H. Pereda-Echeverria (2021)

Benjamin A. Quarles (2004, 2005)

Vincent Quayle (2024)

Hon. Howard "Pete" Rawlings (2010)

Roger D. Redden (2008)

James Earl Reid (2022)

Bishop L. Robinson, Sr. (2015)

Norman G. Rukert (2006)

Edward Rutkowski (2020)

Thomas L. Saunders (2018)

Elizabeth Mary Schaaf (2024)

Hans Schuler, Jr. (2009)

Hans Schuler, Sr. (2009)

Hubert Simmons (2012)

Phoebe Stanton (2004)

Rosalyn Terborg-Penn (2019)

Vivien T. Thomas (2005)

J. Tyson Tildon (2006)

Mamie Todd (2023)

Dr. Levi Watkins, Jr. (2016)

Benjamin Whitten (2013)

Gertrude Williams (2022)

Herman Williams, Jr. (2023)

June Wing (2015)