Four changemakers in Boca Raton have been selected as the inductees for the 2026 Walk of Recognition, a tradition now in its 30th year: Doris Marie Hester, John W. Temple, and Marilyn Simon Weinberg and Jay Weinberg.
The Walk of Recognition, located at Mizner Plaza in Royal Palm Place and organized by the Boca Raton Historical Society, honors people who have made a difference in the city with a granite star. These stars represent changemakers in education, health care, civic service, arts and culture, business, philanthropy, and more.
The tradition was started in 1997 by Marta Batmasian, who has sponsored the Walk of Recognition ever since. Last year, she was surprised with her very own star by the Boca Raton Historical Society.
Meet the inductees:
Doris Marie Hester
Hester was born and raised in Boca Raton’s Pearl City neighborhood, a historically Black neighborhood that was founded before the city itself was incorporated. After a career in government in Washington, D.C., she returned to Boca Raton in 2015 and has advocated for preservation of Pearl City.
She is the president of DISC (Developing Interracial Social Change) and led initiatives such as the 2016 EPA-funded Rising Together project (educating residents of lower-income neighborhoods on climate safety) and the successful 2020 effort to place Pearl City on the National Register of Historic Places. Hester partners with the city for its Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations, and she also founded the Pearl City Garden to bring fresh produce to the neighborhood. Hester is a member of the Boca Raton Housing Commission, a trustee of Macedonia AME Church, and served on the city’s Historic Preservation Board.
Hester’s advocacy was featured in a 2021 article from Boca magazine, as well as her memories of growing up in Pearl City in our 2025 centennial issue.
John W. Temple
When looking at the names of people who shaped Boca Raton as we recognize it today, Temple’s name comes up. He served as president of Arvida Corporation from 1982 to 1987, during which time he helped transform the city into master-planned communities; Boca West Country Club and Broken Sound Country Club, to name a couple. In the late 1980s, Temple and business partner Bill Shubin developed FAU Research Park, a 52-acre campus that now boasts 12 buildings over 400,000 square feet. He has served as president and director of the FAU Foundation, sat on the university’s 1990 Presidential Search Committee, was chairman of the FAU Board of Trustees, and a member of the State University System’s Board of Governors. He has also chaired the Palm Beach County Economic Council and is the 2026 Ellis Island Medal of Honor recipient. He is a retired Navy lieutenant, having served aboard destroyers and submarines.
Marilyn Simon Weinberg and Jay Weinberg
The Weinbergs have been an active part of Boca Raton’s giving, supporting education, healthcare, the arts, Jewish community life, and Holocaust remembrance. The couple were early supporters of the Boca International Jewish Film Festival and remain grand benefactors and underwrite the Marilyn & Jay Weinberg Film Festival Series. The couple also helped fund the new Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building, which includes the Marilyn and Jay Weinberg Grand Lobby. Jay is an Army veteran and practiced law in Richmond, Va. for 50 years. He also served on the FAU Foundation Board from 2013 to 2022, receiving FAU’s President’s Distinguished Service Medallion. Marilyn has been a Lion of Judah since 1972 and has volunteered since Oct. 7, 2023, as a “bubbe” to wounded Israeli soldiers recovering in South Florida.
The four new inductees will be celebrated at a cocktail party at The Addison on Nov. 4 from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $175, benefitting the Boca Raton Historical Society, and can be purchased at bocahistory.org or by calling 561/395-6766, ext. 100
Boca magazine is a proud sponsor of the Walk of Recognition, alongside the James & Marta Batmasian Family Foundation; Mizner Legacy Sponsors Amy & Mike Kazma and Florida Atlantic University; Tribute Sponsor the Boca International Jewish Film Festival; and Appreciation Sponsor Millicent E. Duvall.
