The Times Review Media Group 2019 People of the Year

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Each year since 1987, our company has selected individuals and groups in the communities we cover and honored them with our People of the Year awards.

The program has expanded over the years and now includes a dozen winners each year, always announced on the first Thursday of the following year.

The selections, which include not just our overall people of the year for each of our newspapers and websites, but also several selections in community leadership, public service, education, business and sports.

Each of the winners will be honored at a special ceremony we host in March. You can read about their accomplishments in this week’s newspapers as well as in online posts that will be published throughout the week.

Here’s the full list of this year’s winners as well as a schedule for when their profiles will be published online. Pick up a copy of the paper on newsstands now or check back each day for the next post.

The Suffolk Times

Person of the Year: Father Joe Staudt

Businessperson of the Year: Marc LaMaina

Public Servant of the Year: Kevin Webster

Community Leader of the Year: Cathy Demeroto

Educator of the Year: Christine Schade

Sports Person of the Year: Skip Gehring

Riverhead News-Review

Person of the Year: Det. Brian Simonsen

Businessperson of the Year: Beth Hanlon

Public Servant of the Year: Judge Allen Smith

Community Leaders of the Year: The McMorris Family

Educator of the Year: Sal Loverde 

Sports Person of the Year: Ethan Greenidge

Shelter Island Reporter

Person of the Year: Mary Kanarvogel

Northforker.com

People of the Year: Tony Spiridakis and Lisa Gillooly