From left are Elizabeth Rotary Club President Ken Richuso, Trinitas Health and Trinitas Regional Medical Center President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Horan and Rotary Club past District Gov. Ray Freaney at a recent club meeting, where Horan was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow.
ELIZABETH, NJ — Gary S. Horan, president and chief executive officer of Trinitas Health and Trinitas Regional Medical Center, was recognized by the Rotary Club of Elizabeth as a Paul Harris Fellow at a recent club meeting.
The Paul Harris Fellow, named for the founder of Rotary International, is the highest honor that a Rotary Club can bestow on a Rotarian or a member of the community. Harris organized the first Rotary meeting in Chicago in 1905, thus establishing a service organization that today has more than 1 million members across the globe.
“It’s a pleasure to recognize Gary Horan and the outstanding effort that he and the staff of Trinitas Regional Medical Center provided during the COVID pandemic,” said Elizabeth Rotary Club President Kenneth Richuso, adding, “Not only did Trinitas treat more than 13,000 COVID patients, they stepped up when the vaccine became available and administered more than 26,000 vaccinations. Gary Horan is to be commended for leading that effort.”
The club also made a $1,000 donation to the Rotary Foundation in Horan’s honor.
“All of us at Trinitas appreciate the Elizabeth Rotary Club’s gesture in recognizing the heroic work of our outstanding staff,” said Horan. “The Rotary also played an important role in the war against COVID when the club facilitated the donation of ventilators from the Rotary District and again when the club donated substantial funds to our Emergency Department expansion. They have been an invaluable partner in battling COVID.”
Throughout the pandemic, the Rotary Club of Elizabeth continues to provide financial grants to local nonprofit agencies and to provide college scholarships through the Albert and Louise Davis Scholarship Fund of the Rotary Club of Elizabeth Inc. Since 1986, the Davis Fund has granted $679,000 in scholarships to 437 promising Elizabeth high school students. Another project involves the distribution of free dictionaries to every third-grade student in Elizabeth, Linden and Hillside. To date, more than 27,000 students have benefited.
Founded in 1917, the Rotary Club of Elizabeth is composed of 40 business and professional leaders who work locally to further the ideals of Rotary International, a worldwide service organization. Rotary International’s members provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace. For information about becoming a member of the Rotary Club of Elizabeth, visit www.elizabethrotary.org.