Mercyhurst, Erie Insurance host hometown celebration for Gov. Tom Ridge

(EDITOR’S NOTE: A chronic knee condition that flared up Wednesday morning prohibited Gov. Ridge from attending the event in his honor. His wife, Michele, accepted the award on his behalf.)

Mercyhurst University and Erie Insurance hosted a hometown reception for Gov. Tom Ridge, who recently received the 2022 William Oliver Baker Award for his extraordinary contributions to U.S. intelligence and national security.

The invitation-only event took place on Wednesday, Aug. 24, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., in the Mercyhurst University Library, where a glass-enclosed display highlighting the Tom and Michele Ridge Archival Collection is featured.  The program opened with remarks by Mercyhurst President Kathleen A. Getz, Erie Insurance President and CEO Tim NeCastro, and Erie Insurance Chairman of the Board Thomas B. Hagen. A private reception followed.

In May, nearly 600 members of the Intelligence Community gathered in Washington, D.C., as the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) named Ridge the 37th recipient of the coveted Baker Award, recognizing his decades-long career in public service. The Erie native is best known as the 43rd governor of Pennsylvania and the first Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

INSA President Suzanne Wilson Heckenberg, whose daughter is a senior at Mercyhurst majoring in Cyber Security, was in Erie to present the award.

"It is only fitting that we come together to honor this inspiring public servant in his own hometown,” said President Getz. “As conservator of his archives and home to the Ridge College of Intelligence Studies, we are deeply appreciative of Gov. Ridge’s commitment to our university, but more importantly, to the people of Erie and, by extension, the entire nation. We welcome this opportunity to join with Erie Insurance in recognizing Tom and Michele for their many years of dedicated service to all of us.” 

Hagen, who served as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of Community and Economic Development during the Ridge administration, said it was important to host an event in Erie to recognize Gov. Ridge, the first and only governor from Erie.

“We are pleased to join with Mercyhurst University to salute Tom for his extraordinary contributions to U.S. intelligence and national security affairs,” Hagen said. “Tom’s decades of selfless public service to our community, the Commonwealth, and our nation are unmatched.”

Born Aug. 26, 1945, in Pittsburgh, Ridge was raised in a working-class family in veterans' public housing in Erie. He earned a scholarship to Harvard, graduating with honors in 1967. After his first year at The Dickinson School of Law, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served as an infantry staff sergeant in Vietnam, earning the Bronze Star for Valor. Upon his return, he completed his law degree and entered private practice in Erie. In 1982, he was elected to Congress, where he was overwhelmingly re-elected five times. Ridge went on to serve as governor of Pennsylvania from 1995-2001, concluding his decades of exemplary public service as the first Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005.

Among the former recipients of the Baker Award are Susan M. Gordon, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, Leon Panetta, Robert M. Gates, and James Clapper Jr.