A Natural for the New Jersey Hall of Fame
When John Keegan says he’s a “Jersey guy,” he’s not exaggerating. The Rumson resident has made his home, work and pastimes in the state.
“I was born in Kearney. When I started my family, I was stationed at Fort Monmouth,” Keegan said. He and his wife, Diane, who died in 2019, settled in Little Silver and then in Rumson, in a house where they raised five children and where Keegan still lives. Now there are 16 grandchildren and decades of memories.
To honor his years in Rumson, Keegan served as grand marshal of the borough’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2020.
Keegan is an avid spokesperson for New Jersey, so it is fitting that he will be inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame Nov. 21. He has been an ardent supporter of the nonprofit since its inception, serving as a member of its board and chairman emeritus. It’s just a wonder he hasn’t joined its ranks earlier.
“New Jersey is a great state,” Keegan said. He jokes about the friendly competition the state faces with New York and Philadelphia. “But we have our own distinct culture and the New Jersey Hall of Fame, to me, is a mirror of what people have contributed to this state. They’ve gone out of their way to make it a better place,” he said.
As has Keegan.
Known to friends as “Keegs,” he attended St. Stephen’s Grammar School in Kearny, Seton Hall Prep, University of Notre Dame, Georgetown Law School and was an administrative fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
He practiced law in New York and New Jersey for more than 50 years, specializing in corporate law, defense litigation and estate planning. After handling Gov. Charles Edison’s estate – Thomas’ son and the 46th governor of New Jersey – he went on to join The Edison Foundation, where he has been a dedicated steward.
“I love the man,” said former New Jersey State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos about Keegan. “Almost everyone he touches feels the same way. He’s had a remarkable career in law and business and community activism, and this chapter of leading the Edison Foundation and acting as the custodian and keeper of the Edison legacy.”
Thomas Edison, the noted inventor and entrepreneur – and another New Jersey figure – is a big part of Keegan’s work. He was elected president, CEO and chairman of the Charles Edison Fund, Thomas Edison’s family foundation. Its main mission is to promote educational programs, historic preservation and medical research. Today, Keegan serves in the same capacity for its sister foundation, the Edison Innovation Foundation.
“The Edison Foundation mirrors basically what Thomas Edison was all about. It’s the idea that you create and you bring it to fruition in the form of a process or a product that improves the quality of life of people,” he said.
Edison was always interested in the idea of being “useful,” Keegan said.
“Thomas Edison was really a brilliant guy,” he said, noting he invented items like the stock ticker, the phonograph, motion picture cameras and more.
He points to Edison’s most famous invention, the light bulb, as the ultimate example of being useful. “It wasn’t good enough that it would only benefit two or three people. He had to make it affordable so that everybody can use it. He had to create the whole power grid system,” he said.
According to Keegan, Edison could also be considered the father of research and development. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the invention process, creating the first industrial research laboratory.
“He was determined. He persevered, and his famous word was ‘stick-to-itiveness.’ Don’t give up. He would say the person that really fails is the one that gives up when they’re almost there,” Keegan said.
Keegan recites Edison quotes with a genuine appreciation for the icon. “There’s a better way to do it – find it,” and “Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.” Of course, today, thanks to technology, it would probably be the reverse, he says with a chuckle.
“You know, when Edison died, he said he had enough ideas for 300 years.”
Edison’s lessons permeate Keegan’s ethos.
“I don’t think Edison ever thought that whatever he did was a miss,” Keegan said. “He kept that band of knowledge there, and when he was doing something else, he remembered it.”
“Failure is not a dead end. It’s a temporary block,” Keegan said.
The goal is to use ingenuity and creativity to “get around” any blocks to reach your goal, Keegan added. “Although it may not be what you originally envisioned, it may be a permutation of that.”
Edison was named “Man of the Millennium” by Time Magazine and LIFE Magazine. “There were a lot of important people in there and he was the No. 1 person! It’s amazing. And he’s right here in our backyard. He’s a Jersey guy!” Keegan said.
At the foundation, Keegan helped develop the Edison Awards in science and technology, a pitch contest for fourth through 12th graders to promote new products to improve the quality of life of people.
He also helped the foundation develop STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education programs throughout the United States at the grammar, secondary, collegiate, and graduate school levels, all of which contribute through technology to create new processes and products.
The A – for Arts – was added to create STEAM, and credited to former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, with an aim to teach students to innovate, to think critically and to use engineering or technology in imaginative designs or creative approaches to real-world problems while building on students’ mathematics and science bases, all of which is consistent with the New Jersey Hall of Fame Education and Learning Center.
There’s another letter Keegan and his team are hoping to add to the acronym to create STREAM: The R is for religion, which Keegan said “complements and is not antithetical to science, technology, engineering, math and the arts.”
Keegan, an Extraordinary Minister of the Holy Eucharist and a Minister of the Word in the Catholic Church, was admitted years ago as a Knight of Malta to further serve the poor and the sick. He credits his faith with helping him get through life’s challenges, especially the loss of his wife of 65 years, Diane. “I lost my bride and my best friend.”
Keegan hopes for a day when we can converse with “other people with whom we disagree and do it on a civil basis. That’s what we lack… civility and respect. We don’t have humility.”
He would like people to think of kindness as the new cool.
As a retired captain in the United States Army – where he received the Army Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service during his assignment on the Korean DMZ – Keegan has always been a strong supporter of the military, as were Thomas and Charles Edison. The former served as founder of the Naval Research Board in Virginia and the latter as Secretary of the Navy.
But of all the projects Keegan has worked on over the past 30 years, he is especially proud of the Hall of Fame, which was created in 2005. The Hall of Fame honors notable individuals from New Jersey who have made significant contributions to society, from science to sports to the arts. It features an interactive museum showcasing inductees through exhibits, holograms and a virtual reality ride. Among its inductees are Albert Einstein, Harriet Tubman, Buzz Aldrin, Yogi Berra and Bruce Springsteen.
“Through the foundation, John has been a big benefactor” of the New Jersey Hall of Fame, Kyrillos said of Keegan. “And so now there’s a museum-quality Hall of Fame at the American Dream, which everyone should go visit. It’s impressive and interactive. And John helped to motivate that,” he said.
“I would have to say that the New Jersey Hall of Fame was invented for somebody like John Keegan.”
Thomas Edison, who died in 1931, was the first person to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. His son Charles, who died in 1969, was inducted three years ago.
Of the 240 people in the New Jersey Hall of Fame, “Everybody’s got their own way in… and they’re really solid people,” Keegan said. “I’m thrilled, and I say that with a profound sense of humility. It’s a great organization. It’s apolitical and people in government should support this. They should support it on both sides of the aisle. It’s not an ideological situation. It’s about the state and about the opportunity this state has given people to develop their own lives and give back to society.”
“I think the New Jersey Hall of Fame is a testament to the great spirit, ingenuity, creativity of New Jersey,” he said.
By Judy O’Gorman Alvarez
