The Alverios were among the first Puerto Rican families to settle in New Britain in the mid-1950s, and have played an instrumental role in building and inspiring the Puerto Rican and Latino communities in central Connecticut ever since.
Growing up the youngest of three sons of Italian immigrant parents in depression-era New Britain during the 1930s, Nick DeNigris learned early and often that success in life was no guarantee.
Naeem Khalid knows all about life’s circumstances. In October, 1984, when he arrived in Houston, Texas, at age 26 from his native Pakistan, prepared to earn his Ph.D. in applied linguistics and/or follow in his father’s footsteps (Pakistan Royal Air Force) working in the aerospace industry, the school year was already well underway.
It begins in 1945, the year that Nowak was born in war-torn Poland. Life for the family of Catholic farmers in the post-World War II era was hard, with the land the Nowaks loved brutalized by years of war and the country under the thumb of Soviet communist rule.
Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, born in 1889 in Kiev, became one of the earliest and most accomplished pioneers of aviation.
Igor Sikorsky, Jr. is the founder of the New England Air Museum and is trustee of the American Helicopter Museum in Pennsylvania.
Helen and Vincent Knapczyk’s lives were shaped by the maelstrom of World War II — the invasion of Poland, exile to Siberia, and escape from Russia with General Anders army.
Tariq Farid is founder and CEO of Edible Arrangements International, which pioneered the innovative business concept of artistically designed fresh fruit arrangements.
New Nonprofit Operates Immigrant Heritage Hall of Fame
The Immigrant Heritage Hall of Fame was initially a project of the Polish American Foundation of Connecticut, Inc., a 501(c)3 charitable organization, which launched and operated the Hall of Fame from inception. It was succeeded by the establishment during 2021 of the National Immigrant Heritage Center (NIHC), an independent 501(c)3 organization established as a multi-ethnic Center, inclusive in its mission, structure and governance.
NIHC aims to promote and publish research, lectures and conferences on the many dimensions of Connecticut’s immigrant heritage and the role of immigration throughout the American economy and culture. Its work, and the annual Immigrant Heritage Hall of Fame induction ceremony, is to be supported by an endowment that organizers anticipate will sponsor, support and provide research fellowships, to further these activities and expand public awareness and understanding.
Email us at info@immigrantheritage.org or call 860-614-3488.
