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Reed, DiStefano receive accolades
 | | Joseph DiStefano, Esq. and Senator Jack Reed |
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Two Jamestown residents, U.S. Senator Jack Reed and Joseph DiStefano, Esq., were inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame on May 3.
The dinner and ceremony, with some 650 in attendance, were held at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, in Cranston.
The Heritage Award is the highest civic honor that can be bestowed on a Rhode Island resident. Sen. Jack Reed's accomplishments are well known. He is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and works to secure federal funding for the Ocean State. Through his sponsorship of anticrime legislation, he has played a pivotal role in safeguarding the nation. Reed is also a member of the Senate Banking Committee and the Urban Affairs Committee and is a nationally-recognized authority on military affairs.
DiStefano is a partner in the law firm of Adler, Pollock & Sheehan. In 1966, he led a successful entrepreneurial effort gaining control of the Providence & Worcester Railroad from Penn Central and turned it into a successful operation serving Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. He later became president of Capital Properties, Inc. which led to the transformation of the Providence skyline. Under his direction the Citizens Bank Building, The Center Place Apartments and the G-Tech headquarters came into being.
DiStefano has lent his expertise to such positions as the Chairman of the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority, is the present Chairman of the Board of Salve Regina University, and also served on the boards of the St. Joseph Health Services, Providence College and Roger Williams University. He has served four terms in the Rhode Island Senate and was once the Democratic State Chairman.
Father William O'Neill, pastor of St. Mark Church, gave the benediction at the ceremony. Another Jamestown resident, who is a past inductee of the Heritage Hall of Fame is former Governor Bruce Sundlun.
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