The 2016 Boston Irish Honors Awards luncheon drew more than 400 attendees to the Plaza Ballroom of the Seaport Hotel in Boston on Oct. 28 for a celebration and public recognition of two Boston families and a distinguished public servant by the Boston Irish Reporter. The honorees are:

• Jim Judge, CEO of Eversource Energy, and Mary Cahill Judge, a husband and wife team noted for their generosity of spirit and extensive philanthrophy.

• Former US Sen. Paul G. Kirk, Jr., a legendary public servant who chaired the Democratic National Committee and co-founded the Presidential Debate Commission.

• The Leary family – the Irish American Partnership founder Joe Leary, the businessman and philanthropist Kevin Leary, and their sisters, Mary Patricia Leary Dowling and Elizabeth Ann Leary Horrigan — who were cited as an exemplary Boston Irish family.

The selection of the honorees was made by a 34 member committee chaired by Bill Reilly of Cambridge. Committee members included Ireland’s Consul General Fionnuala Quinlan, New England Council president Jim Brett, and BIR publisher Ed Forry.
“It is important that we acknowledge those among us who have excelled,” Reilly said. “They remind us of the accomplishment of our ancestors, many of whom arrived on these shores at a time of great hostility towards immigrants. It is the foundation that they laid so sturdily that gives us cause to celebrate on this day.”