The ninth annual Lowell High School Distinguished Alumni induction ceremony was held last evening at the high school’s auditorium. Started in 2004, the Distinguished Alumni event each year honors six graduates of the school who have made their mark on their field, their community and their country. All are linked together by their shared experience as former students of this city’s high school.

Honored last evening were:

Milton Bradley, Class of 1854 – Best known as a maker of games, Milton Bradley was at heart an educator who designed those games to help children learn math, art, reasoning and other valuable skills. Representing Bradley was his great grand daughter, Judith McMurray, who is an educator in Kittery, Maine.

George F. McLean, Class of 1946 – An Oblate priest who became a world-famous philosopher after his ordination in 1955. Fr. McLean spent years teaching philosophy to Eastern Europeans behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War and in the 1990s, spent time in China doing the same there after that country’s opening to the west.

Roger Boisjoly, Class of 1955 – A graduate of Lowell Technological Institute after his years at LHS, Boisjoly made his career in the aerospace industry. In 1986, his frequent but unheeded warnings that it would be hazardous to launch the space shuttle Challenger due to cold temperatures unfortunately came true. His openness with investigators after the tragedy caused him to shunned by colleagues but hailed as an example of courage and ethics.

William J. Samaras, Class of 1959 – During his 20 years as headmaster of Lowell High School, Bill Samaras used his contacts in the Lowell community to launch scholarship campaigns that have raised millions of dollars and that have allowed Lowell High School students to attain higher education that they might not have otherwise been able to afford.

Timothy M. Sweeney, Class of 1983 – A graduate of Harvard and Harvard Business School, Sweeney rapidly rose through the ranks of Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and now his president, Personal Markets which represents more than $8 billion in annual revenue and includes all personal insurance – auto, home and life – sold by the company.

Congratulations to these worthy inductees.