Jack Riffle - He was a Utica National Insurance CEO and President, a community leader and non-profit sector supporter.  A graduate of Hamilton College, Jack served as an officer in the United States Navy during the Korean War and came to Utica Mutual on January 1, 1965.  He served on the national council of the National Association of Insurance commissioners and became deeply involved in the community.  He served as Executive Vice President of the Boy Scouts of America and was a member of its National Executive Board.  He was a charter Trustee of Hamilton College, a Past President of the United Way of the Greater Utica area, and served as director and in other capacities for: The Business Council of New York State, the National Commission Against Drunk Driving, and the New York Traffic Safety Council.

Squire Whipple - An engineer who specialized in designing bridges using scientific methods to make the most use of materials, Whipple was awarded a United States patent for an iron truss bridge which was built over the Erie Canal near Rome in 1841.  His “Whipple Bowstring Truss Bridge” was patented in 1851 and was adopted by the New York State Canal commissioners as the standard bridge used to cross the Erie Canal in 1855.  His designs made both wood and iron bridges stronger and longer-lived, and they were promoted in his many writings.  In 1874, he designed, patented, and built a bridge to allow traffic to cross the Erie Canal at Hotel Street in Utica, NY – the first iron lift bridge in the United States.

Everett Holmes - Born in Unadilla forks, Everett was the grandson of an escaped slave.  He formed a minstrel show during the Great Depression, performing throughout the area for charitable causes.  An ‘everyman’ who worked as a farmer, machinist, and carpenter around Bridgewater, a village which he also served as a Trustee.  He was elected Mayor of Bridgewater in 1974 and held the post for three terms, gaining recognition from the New York State Senate as the first African-American Mayor in New York State.  He is a charter member of the Bridgewater Historical Society’s Hall of Fame.

Harold Frederic - A 19th Century journalist and novelist who was born on South Street in Utica (the home still stands today).  He became the editor of the Utica Observer at the age of 24, and he later became a European correspondent for The New York Times.  He found time between 1887 and 1896 to produce novels and shorter works, many about life in Oneida County and the Mohawk Valley.  Among his novels: Seth’s Brother’s Wife, The Lawton Girl, and In the Valley – the first full-length fictional treatment of the American Revolution in the Mohawk Valley.  His most famous novel, which became a best seller in the United States and Europe, was The Damnation of Theron Ware which was published in 1896.

George Cogar - George Cogar joined Remington Rand in the 1950s working on UNIVAC computers. He led an engineering group there that produced a computer breakthrough at the time, then co-founded Mohawk Data Sciences and later the Cogar Corporation -- both in the Mohawk Valley. He was an electronics genius developing among the first small computers for desk tops. The multimillionaire industrialist started the Cogar Foundation that provides scholarships for local students ... and still does. He was on the board of trustees at Hamilton College in 1971.   While hunting in British Columbia, he was aboard a plane that disappeared in 1983.