SZA, Robert Garrett, Christopher Paladino and former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman among the honorees
The basics:
New Jersey Hall of Fame inducted its 2026 class at American Dream
SZA was among the honorees, reflecting on her Maplewood roots
The Rascals’ Eddie Brigati performed with Steven Van Zandt
Class includes leaders in business, sports, education, arts and public service
New Jersey Hall of Fame ceremonies are known for their star-studded grand finales.
Where else would a 1960s pop hitmaker jam out with a member of the E Street Band, former governor and two Pro Football Hall of Famers?
But at the 18th induction, megastar singer-songwriter SZA brought high-wattage celebrity to the stage early in the ceremony — with a super Jersey speech to match.
After returning host Danny DeVito (class of 2010) got things started, the seven-time Grammy winner got a sweet introduction from her parents. SZA, 36, was born Solána Rowe in St. Louis, Mo., and grew up in Maplewood.
“From an early age, Solána succeeded at whatever she really tried,” said her mother, Audrey Rowe — whether theater, dance or gymnastics. “She was often the youngest, the smallest and often the only person of color in many of her experiences … Solána has remained the same: highly sensitive, caring and generous. She’s always insisted on doing things her own way, ignoring boundaries of time and energy to do whatever it takes.”
SZA’s father, Abdul Mubarak-Rowe, recalled what it was like to hear his daughter’s 2017 debut album, “Ctrl.” He was so emotional, it took him months to get through the record.
“Every time I listened to it, I was brought to tears,” he said.
‘The heartbeat of the tri-state’
SZA called her Sept. 24 hall of fame induction “one of the biggest honors I’ve ever had.”
Singer-songwriter and New Jersey Hall of Fame inductee SZA grew up in Maplewood. “I just wanna say I love Jersey, every corner of Jersey,” she said at the induction ceremony. – PHOTO CREDIT: BUCCI
“I just wanna say I love Jersey, every corner of Jersey,” she said. She went on to list her beloved local haunts and formative encounters — her home in Maplewood, where she attended Maplewood Middle School, Columbia High School and worked at Village Trattoria; getting Portuguese-style ribs in Newark’s Ironbound; working at Magic Sneaker in Irvington; and her mother’s tenure as program director at the South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race and Sunday School teacher at Prospect Presbyterian Church.
SZA described her childhood in Maplewood as being in a place where everyone knew everyone’s name. She said exposure to the local culture – from friendships with Italian and Irish Americans to eating bagels and going to bar and bat mitzvahs – served as a useful primer.
“It kind of prepared me for the world,” she said. “It’s not utopian, but it’s very real. I think sometimes people skip over Jersey and go straight to New York, but they’re missing the meat, they’re missing the energy, they’re missing the heartbeat of the tri-state.”
SZA, whose No. 1-charting sophomore album “SOS” (2022) went eight times platinum, shouted out her forebears at Columbia High School. The include fellow Grammy winner Lauryn Hill and the actor and singer Rotimi. “I’m just a culmination of those people,” she said. “I just love community and I promise to take that energy of community around the world, wherever I go.”
This is the first year the ceremony took place at the new Dream Live Performing Arts Center at American Dream. The mega mall is also home to the New Jersey Hall of Fame Entertainment and Learning Center, which opened in 2024.
I just love community and I promise to take that energy of community around the world, wherever I go.
– SZA, singer-songwriter and 2026 New Jersey Hall of Fame inductee
Good Jersey lovin’
Joining SZA in the hall’s performing arts category this year: three members of The Rascals, the band from Garfield who started out as The Young Rascals.
Singer Eddie Brigati Jr., the sole living member of the group in attendance, took the stage to perform some of their many 1960s hits — No. 1 song “Good Lovin’” (1966) and “How Can I Be Sure” (1967).
“New Jersey’s the capital of the universe,” said Brigati, 80, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame who also co-wrote the band’s Grammy Hall of Fame song “Groovin’” (1967).
E Street Band mainstay Steven Van Zandt, who brought the Rascals to Broadway in the 2013 show “Once Upon a Dream,” was on hand to induct Brigati and join him on guitar. Van Zandt, a 2017 inductee to the state hall, also inducted the band into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
E Street Band’s Steven Van Zandt (Class of 2017, left) and The Rascals band member Edward Brigati Jr. (right) at the New Jersey Hall of Fame 2026 Induction Ceremony. – PHOTO CREDIT: NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME/GELLMAN IMAGES
Other members of the Rascals – Brigati’s brother David Brigati and drummer Dino Danelli – were inducted posthumously. Founding band members Felix Cavaliere (lead singer, keyboard) and Gene Cornish (singer-guitarist) did not attend the ceremony and were not inducted (living inductees must be on hand to be inducted).
Joining Brigati onstage for his grand finale of “Good Lovin’” were fellow 2026 inductee Lawrence “L.T.” Taylor and Giants legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Harry Carson, who was inducted to the state hall in 2018.
Carson inducted Taylor, 67, in the sports category. “I’m very happy for what is going on in New Jersey,” Taylor said. “I came to Jersey quite some years ago and I stayed here for 20-something years … I’m happy to be back home.”
Former governors
Two days before her 81st birthday, former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman was onstage for the hall’s musical finale. Whitman, inducted in the public service category, was governor from 1994 to 2001 and the first woman to hold the office. She later served as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the administration of George W. Bush.
She held the EPA role in the aftermath of 9/11, at the time assuring New Yorkers that the air at Ground Zero was not harmful. Years later, as those exposed to that air continued to suffer and die from health conditions caused by exposure to the environmental fallout, she apologized. More recently, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released records that show city government knew the air was toxic.
Former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame’s public service category. – PHOTO CREDIT: NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME/GELLMAN IMAGES
At the hall of fame ceremony, Whitman chose to focus on a win from her tenure as governor. “One of the things that actually stuck in my mind was a Supreme Court case that we won that acknowledged that 90% of Ellis Island is in New Jersey,” she said. “The reason that I think that’s so important is because of the time it represents — what the United States was doing really well. We were welcoming people who were fleeing from war, from hunger, wanting a better life in this country.” That move “gave us the diversity” the state is known for, she said, proving that “we are many faces of one family.”
Whitman left the Republican Party in 2022 to co-found the Forward Party.
Another former governor, Chris Christie – still a Republican – was at the ceremony to induct Robert Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health. Christie, 64, recently made headlines by saying he’s mulling another presidential run in 2028. As he took the stage at Dream Live, the band played the Billy Joel song “Big Shot.” Joel’s own longtime saxophonist, Mark Rivera, was part of the ensemble.
Christie called Garrett, an inductee in the hall’s enterprise category, “one of the great business leaders of New Jersey.”
Hackensack Meridian Health CEO Robert Garrett was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame on Sept. 24. Former Gov. Chris Christie inducted Garrett and called him “one of the great business leaders of New Jersey.”- PROVIDED BY HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH/PHOTO BY GELLMAN IMAGES
Among Garrett’s accomplishments, Christie highlighted the 2015 founding of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, which enrolled its first students in 2018.
“He’s a good man, a really good man,” Christie said. “During my time as governor, Bob was often the person in the private sector that I turned to for advice and for counsel … I believe our greatest victory together was the opening up of that medical school. New Jersey will be well served by the talent that will flow through that school for years to come, and it would not have happened without the vision of Bob Garrett.”
The next chapter
After announcing his retirement, Hackensack Meridian Health CEO Robert Garrett reflects on his tenure and looks to the future. Read more here.
In his speech, Garrett, who presides over a network of 18 hospitals and 500 “care locations,” paid tribute to the system’s frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and its healthcare employees. “I believe the future is bright for Hackensack Meridian and for health care and also for the great state of New Jersey,” he said.
Schools, wishes and philanthropy
During his induction, Thomas Eastwick talked about some fellow inductees:
“I saw The Rascals in 1966 at the Long Island Arena, so can you imagine how old I am?!”
Eastwick, founder of Eastwick College and HoHoKus School of Trade and Technical Sciences, was inducted in the hall’s education, research, engineering and science category.
Past and current honorees taking the stage at the New Jersey Hall of Fame 2026 Induction Ceremony included Harry Carson, Lawrence “LT” Taylor, Tommy James, Stevie Van Zandt, Edward Brigati Jr., former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, Thomas Eastwick and Robert Garrett. – PHOTO CREDIT: NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME/GELLMAN IMAGES
“I’ve come to realize that success isn’t measured simply by what you accomplish,” he said. “It’s measured by the people you help, the opportunities you create, the difference you make in the lives of others.”
The hall’s 2026 “unsung hero” is Tom Weatherall, who has been CEO of Make-A-Wish New Jersey since 2005. Its educator of the year is Marbel Tamayo, a Spanish teacher at Eastside High School in Paterson.
Another enterprise inductee: Christopher Paladino, president of New Brunswick Development Corp. (DEVCO). In his speech, Paladino said he’s “proud to be part of a New Jersey story.”
New Jersey Hall of Fame enterprise inductee Christopher Paladino, president of New Brunswick Development Corporation (DEVCO), said he’s “proud to be part of a New Jersey story.” – PHOTO CREDIT: NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME/GELLMAN IMAGES
Big Joe Henry, the hall’s sole arts and letters inductee this year, is a longtime radio personality from New Jersey 101.5. He’s also known for his philanthropic efforts, aiding local food pantries and Special Olympics New Jersey and helping to bring 80,000 toys to children of families affected by Hurricane Katrina.
“I’ve always looked at myself as a conduit,” he said in his booming voice.
“I’ll close tonight the way I close my radio show,” he said. “Go out this week, support local New Jersey musicians — there’s no better talent than right here in the great Garden State.”
Posthumous honors
These weren’t the only honorees celebrated at the ceremony. Here are more of the New Jersey Hall of Fame’s posthumous inductees for 2026:
Education, research, engineering and science: Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, philanthropist. Founder of the Morris and Essex Dog Club and St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center. She willed her fortune to fund the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
Enterprise: James Burke, former CEO of Johnson & Johnson. Steered the company during the 1982 Tylenol murders, when people died from pills poisoned with cyanide.
Public service: U.S. Donald Milford Payne Sr.
Sports: John McMullen, former owner of the New Jersey Devils
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