A former United States Senator, the region’s newest Irish American CEO, and a pioneering Boston Irish family will be the honorees at next month’s Boston Irish Honors luncheon, the season’s premier celebration of Irish-American achievement in Massachusetts. The luncheon, which serves as an anniversary celebration for the Boston Irish Reporter, will be held at the Seaport Boston Hotel on Friday, Oct. 28.

Former US Senator Paul G. Kirk, Jr., who succeeded his longtime friend and mentor Edward M. Kennedy upon his death in 2009, is an outstanding public leader in Massachusetts. An attorney, Sen. Kirk served as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as a trustee at Stonehill College. A great-nephew of the late Cardinal William O’Connell, Sen. Kirk is the son of Josephine Elizabeth (née O’Connell) and Judge Paul Grattan Kirk Sr., who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Sen. Kirk serves on the board of directors of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and chairman of the board of directors for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Jim Judge will be honored by the Irish Reporter for his excellence in business and philanthropy. Last April, Judge began his duties as the president and CEO of Eversource Energy, the utility company with a market value of over $18 billon that serves more than 3.6 million customers throughout New England. A native of Dorchester and the son of a school librarian and Boston Police officer, Judge worked his way up the ladder at Boston Edison to become one of the nation’s leading chief executives in the energy industry. Along the way, Judge has inspired his peers with his devotion to helping young people in his Boston neighborhood by serving as a board member at College Bound Dorchester and leading an annual walk to benefit Children’s Hospital. Judge personifies the Boston Irish ethos of doing well by always doing good for others.

The Leary family – including Irish American Partnership founder Joe Leary, philanthropist Kevin Leary and their sisters, Mary Patricia Leary Dowling and Elizabeth Ann Leary Horrigan— will be honored by the Irish Reporter for their exemplary work in better connecting Boston and Ireland through philanthropy, education and business. The Leary siblings have devoted their personal and professional careers to celebrating the best qualities of the Irish American experience, working for peace through commerce and grassroots support for cross-cultural projects on both sides of the Atlantic. Together, their philanthropic efforts have been essential to the work of the Irish American Partnership, the Ursuline Sisters, Nativity Prep School, Boston Health Care for the Homeless and many others.

Attendance at the luncheon is expected to top 400 with top business, civic, and political leaders in place.

The Boston Irish Reporter is one of the region’s few remaining family-owned and-operated publications  and, in keeping with our own heritage, the newspaper tells the story of Boston Irish individuals and families for special achievements in public service and business, and exemplary Irish families who share our common roots in Boston and Ireland.  

The 35-member luncheon committee is chaired by William ReillyJim Brett. Serving as honorary chairs are US Sen. Edward Markey, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and the Consul General of Ireland, Fionnuala Quinlan. The program moderator will be Boston Red Sox “poet laureate” Dick Flavin.

“This inspiring luncheon allows us to recognize and celebrate exemplary Irish individuals and their families who share our heritage in Boston and Ireland,” explained Ed Forry, the founder and publisher of the Boston Irish Reporter. For tickets or to sponsor the event, call 617-436-1222 or email bostonirishhonors@bostonirish.com.