NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim received a Lifetime Achievement Award Wednesday at the Downtown Norfolk Council Annual Meeting.
“We are so proud to recognize Mayor Fraim for his vision and leadership in Norfolk over these decades not only as Mayor but also as a member of Council,” said Mary Miller, president and CEO of Downtown Norfolk Council. “Downtown’s renaissance–from the $300 million MacArthur Center to the $65 million Slover Library–was accomplished on his watch. We would not be enjoying the success and continued growth that Downtown is experiencing now without his encouragement and support.”
Mayor Fraim has served as the Mayor of Norfolk for 22 years. Fraim announced last year that he did not plan to seek re-election in 2016. Kenny Alexander has been elected as the city’s next mayor. He’ll be sworn in on July 1.
Fraim is only the third person to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Other Lifetime Achievement Award recipients included local attorney and philanthropist, Peter G. Decker, Jr., and Frank Batten, Sr., founder of Landmark Communications and co-founder of the Weather Channel.
The Downtown Norfolk Council also awarded husband and wife Brother and Meredith Rutter the Peter G. Decker Downtowner of the Year Award for their substantial economic and cultural contributions to Downtown Norfolk.
The Rutters have been an integral part of the birth and success of the NEON (New Energy of Norfolk) District. They renovated the historic 1917 Texaco building in the District and opened Work | Release, an art exhibition and event space. They also founded NEAR (New Energy Artist Residency), an artist residency program in partnership with the Chrysler Museum of Art and the Glass Wheel Studio.
They also have a free short-term apartment loan program within the Texaco building for nonprofit art organizations for visiting artists or speakers. Brother serves on the Board of Trustees of the Chrysler Museum of Art and chairs the exhibition committee. Meredith and Brother founded the Rutter Family Art Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing contemporary art to the widest possible audience in Hampton Roads. They have funded five art exhibitions with plans for five more in 2016.
The Rutters also founded a Curatorial Fellowship that is awarded yearly to a college or graduate student pursuing curatorial studies. The current recipient has completed an internship at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and will curate, install and oversee an art exhibition at Work | Release this summer.
