Mayor Andrew J. Ginther will induct the late Mary Teresa Funk, Maude Hill, Ned Pettus, Jr., PhD and the late Reverend Dr. James Preston Poindexter into the Columbus Hall of Fame.
The City of Columbus Hall of Fame honors outstanding individuals who, through exemplary accomplishments, have gained national recognition for themselves and have brought credit to this city.
Mary Teresa Funk served the City of Columbus from 2000 to 2010, after many years of being a neighborhood advocate and President of the Harrison West Society. As a Community Liaison, she attended hundreds of neighborhood civic and area commission meetings, and channeled her passion to the benefit of all the people of Columbus. No resident’s complaint was too trivial to merit her attention. She served the public with joy in her heart, and often sarcasm in her voice, keeping coworkers and friends laughing all the while.
Maude Hill has been an agent of human service, public safety and social change for over four decades. Since 1990, Maude has played a leading role in Homeport’s organizational journey that has lifted the lives of thousands of Central Ohio residents through affordable housing, financial education and access to supporting services. She’s worked with residents to learn their needs and assisted in the design and floor plans of family-friendly apartment homes.
A graduate of Linden-McKinley, Pettus joined the ranks of the Columbus Division of Fire as a firefighter in 1977, sparking a four-decade-long career in public safety. He went on to become the city’s first Black Fire Chief in 2002 and the Director of Public Safety in August 2016. In his 10 years as Fire Chief, the Division achieved one of the first international accreditations by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International in the United States, and was recognized as one of the world’s highest-regarded models.
The historic Reverend James Preston Poindexter was an abolitionist, civil rights activist, politician and Baptist minister from Columbus. He was also politically active in education, the Underground Railroad and City Council, among other causes. His life’s work was memorialized in the naming of the one of the first affordable public housing complexes in Columbus and the nation as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal.
“We are delighted to induct these four Columbus champions into the Hall of Fame,” said Mayor Ginther. “Each of them has contributed to the well-being, growth, and diversity of our city. I cannot thank them enough for lifting up the City of Columbus and its residents.”
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