Montclair Native To Host 50th Valor Awards: Local Cops, Firefighters Honored

Montclair native John Miller of the NYPD will host the 200 Club of Essex County’s 50th annual Valor Awards on May 5.

The annual awards are intended to recognize “bravery, dedication to duty, courageous vigilance and selflessness,” according to a news release.

Miller, a former Montclair High School student and the current deputy commissioner for the NYPD Division of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, will serve as the event’s featured speaker. He is a former national spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the winner of eleven Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards and two DuPont Awards during his distinguished career in television journalism.

“The job of a police officer or firefighter is tougher today than ever before,” said Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura, a member of The 200 Club’s board of trustees. “Law enforcement and firefighting are extremely hazardous professions which are performed at tremendous personal risk.”

Fontoura also praised the ongoing work of the 200 Club – which assists the families of police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty.

This year, the club will honor 17 law enforcement officers and 12 firefighters for bravery on the job.

Additionally, The 200 Club will present its John P. McLaughlin Award to Arthur S. Guida, former 200 Club president and former vice president for External Affairs for PSE&G, for “outstanding service to the organization.”

This year’s award ceremony will be held at Nanina’s In The Park in Belleville. Individual tickets for the 50th Anniversary 200 Club Valor Awards luncheon are available at $75. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact 973-694-4982.

THE HEROES OF 2016

This year’s individual Valor Award recipients include:

• Newark Police Sergeant Matthew Ruane, Newark Police Detectives Ana Colon and Tyrell Wheeler, Essex County Sheriff’s Detective Abdullah Holmes and NJIT Police Sergeant Antoine Hughes “for the capture of two armed suspects who opened fire on them on a city street”
• Newark Police Detectives Juan Ramos and Wyhidi Wilson “for the capture of an armed suspect”
• Newark Police Detective Glen Calderon “for single-handedly capturing two armed suspects during a robbery in progress”
• Irvington Police Patrolman Edward Pearce “for single-handedly capturing a gun-wielding suspect”
• New Jersey State Police Detective II Anthony Giunta, Detective II Edward Schmalz and Trooper Blazej Oczkos “for the capture of a kidnapping and attempted murder suspect and the rescue of the three-year-old victim”
• Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Detectives Eric Manns, Carlos Olmo and Kenneth Poggi “for the capture of two homicide suspects”
• South Orange Police Chief Kyle Kroll and Detective Steven Davenport “for the capture of an armed robbery suspect”
• North Caldwell Fire Lieutenant Lee Sutherlin and Firefighter David Hicock “for successfully evacuating a large residential complex and the rescue of an unconscious 88-year-old female victim during a natural gas leakage event”
• Newark Fire Captains Delfin Ortiz and Mark Furka ad Firefighter Derek Hunter “for the rescue of three adults and four children from a residential fire”
• Newark Fire Captain Frank Fonseca and Firefighters Michael Bellina, Tony DeFeo, Carlo Dello Russo and Carlos Henriques “for the rescue of an unconscious pregnant female and her two unconscious children from a residential fire”
• Newark Fire Captain Carl Wendt and Firefighter Raymond Hatton “for the rescue of three children from a residential fire”

Sign up for Patch NJ email newsletters here.