Press Club of Long Island inducts journalists into hall of fame

The Press Club of Long Island celebrated its 40th anniversary this month by creating a Hall of Fame for trailblazing journalists.

President Chris R. Vaccaro said the club, the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, wanted to take its annual lifetime achievement award "one step further," partly by going back in time. So the Hall's first 25 honorees include poet Walt Whitman, who founded The Long-Islander newspaper in Huntington in 1838.

Also inducted was Charles F. Dolan, founder of Cablevision Systems Corp., which owns News 12 and Newsday.

Newsday inductees include Robert F. Keeler, former reporter and editor; the late Robert W. Greene, who created and led the paper's first investigative reporting team, and Howard Schneider, a former editor and founding dean of the School of Journalism at Stony Brook University.

Also among the inaugural inductees are Carolyn James of ACJ Communications and John L. Kominicki, a former publisher of the Long Island Business News.

Other journalists inducted during the June 5 award ceremony at Woodbury Country Club were:

The late Dennis Bell, Newsday

Rick Brand, Newsday

Frank Brinka, WALK-FM

Scott Brinton, Herald Community Newspapers

Greg Cergol, WNBC-TV

Patrick Dolan, News 12 Networks

Ken Eckhardt, "LI News Tonight"

Doug Geed, News 12 Long Island

Karl Grossman, freelance journalist

Walt Handelsman, formerly of Newsday

Hank Logeman, UPI

The late Ed Lowe, Newsday

Sandra Peddie, Newsday

Paul Schreiber, formerly of Newsday

Doug Spero, WNBC-TV

Steve Wick, Newsday

Bob Wolff, News 12 Long Island

Dick Yarwood, formerly of Newsday

Bill Zimmerman, News 12 Long Island

Correction. The founder of Cablevision is Charles F. Dolan, his name was incorrect in previous versions of this story.