2017 Investitures of Certified SOBs

Here are the 2017 investitures, in the order they were earned: 
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"Sir William Osler"
Christopher T. George – February 4, 2017

Our second investiture chosen from among the "Big Four" founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital, William Osler is considered by many to be the “Father of Modern Medicine.” He was instrumental in adding bedside clinical training to supplement medical school lecture hall discussions. Osler left Hopkins in 1905 to become the Chair of Medicine at Oxford. A great diagnostician, his name has been lent to various medical symptoms and diseases. Osler was a prolific author, and many of his works were still being used as texts until a few years ago, earning the admiration of retired medical editor Christopher George.
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"The Castle on the Hill"
Frank Mentzel – April 1, 2017
 
Founded in 1838, Baltimore City College is the third oldest active public high school in the U.S. and boasts a college preparatory curriculum. City’s alumni, known as the Knights, include many Mayors of Baltimore, Maryland Governors, Senators, Congressman ... and Frank Mentzel.
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"Poly"
Denny Dobry – April 1, 2017
 
The Baltimore Polytechnic Institute opened in 1883 as an all-male trade school. Now co-ed, the school’s curriculum focuses on the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Famous alumni include several politicians, journalist H. L. Mencken, and Denny Dobry. City and Poly have the longest running high school football rivalry in Maryland and one of the oldest in the country. Beginning in 1889, the City-Poly game was traditionally (though no longer) played on Thanksgiving Day. At the time of this investiture (April, 2017), Poly leads the series 62-60-6.
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"Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte"
Carol S. Leventhal – April 1, 2017

“Betsy” Patterson, renowned for her beauty and intelligence, was one of the most sought-after young women in Baltimore when she met Lt. Jérôme Bonaparte, who was visiting the United States with the French Navy. The two would marry on Christmas Eve, 1803, without the approval of her father or Jérôme’s brother, Napoleon. After sailing to Europe in 1805 to reconcile with the now Emperor, Jérôme abandoned Betsy in April, and she gave birth to their child in London that July. Returning to her father’s home later that year, she would be known as “Madame Bonaparte” until her death in 1879. Granted an official divorce by the Maryland legislature in 1815, she enjoyed an independent financial and legal status that was rare for adult women of the period. Betsy became known for her savvy management of her fortune.
 
Her historical connection to the French Emperor and her reputation in Baltimore was a primary factor in the naming of the Six Napoleons of Baltimore in 1946.
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"Hopkins"
Andrew L. Solberg – July 22, 2017
 
The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health was founded in 1916 by William H. Welch (the investiture of another Certified SOB) and quickly became the model for higher learning in the field of public health in the United States. In 2001, the school was renamed the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Andy Solberg received his Master of Health Sciences degree from Hopkins and was later a faculty member at the School.
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"Tom Clancy"
Dr. Daniel J. Benny – July 22, 2017
 
A Baltimore native, Tom Clancy was a hugely successful author of military- and espionage- themed thrillers, including 17 bestsellers, with over 100 million books in print. His first novel, The Hunt for Red October, was published in 1984 by the Naval Institute Press and was made into a film in 1990. His 1991 novel The Sum of All Fears was adapted for the screen in 2002. "Fun" fact: In that movie, it is the city of Baltimore, rather than the novel's Denver, which is destroyed by a nuclear bomb. Clancy was a partial owner of the Baltimore Orioles from 1993 until his death in 2013. Dr. Benny is fond of Clancy’s writing and enjoyed his novels.
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"Leslie Ford"
Mary Stojak – July 22, 2017
 
Leslie Ford is one of the pen names used by mystery writer Zenith Jones Brown, author of over 60 mysteries. Brown lived on St. Paul Street in Baltimore during the early 1930’s before moving to the Annapolis area. Many of her stories were set in Maryland, and this certainly added to their popularity in this region. Date With Death was set in Annapolis, The Girl from the Mimosa Club in Baltimore, and Murder Comes to Eden on the Eastern Shore. Brown was often assisted during her writings by Dr. Watson, her Cocker Spaniel. Mary Stojak, herself a writer, is fond of the mysteries of Leslie Ford. 
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"Etta Cone"
Evelyn Herzog – July 22, 2017
 
Etta Cone, along with her sister Claribel, was an early 20th-Century art-lover who would eventually assemble one of the largest collections of modern French art in the United States. This collection was donated to the Baltimore Museum of Art after Etta’s death in 1949. She was especially fond of the works of Henri Matisse, who drew portraits of both her and her sister (his "Baltimore ladies"). Evy Herzog is bemused by the adventuress spirit she sees in Ms. Cone.
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"Old Bay"
Tom Fahres – October 7, 2017

Anyone who has ever eaten steamed crabs in the Baltimore area must be familiar with the seafood seasoning Old Bay. Created in 1939, the iconic yellow and blue can is commonly found in the galleys of U.S. naval ships and throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Named after the Old Bay steamship line that was active at the time of the spice’s creation, it was bought by McCormick Spice Company in 1990. Tom Fahres, who has enjoyed a few crabs, refers to his investiture as “Old Bay the SOB,” the spice of Baltimore. 
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"Harriet Tubman"
Janis Wilson – October 7, 2017
 
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1822 in Dorchester County, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. She escaped to freedom in Philadelphia in 1849. The following year, Tubman conducted her first rescue mission, saving her niece, Kessiah Jolley Bowley, and her two children from being auctioned to the highest bidder. On the day of the auction, the family secretly sailed to the Fell’s Point waterfront in Baltimore, where Tubman hid them until she was able to safely bring them to Philadelphia. Tubman made 13 more trips to help over 70 others to escape via the Underground Railroad.