Dunkirk’s Fagan joining WNY Entertainment Hall of Fame

Patrick Fagan

Dunkirk native Patrick Fagan gets inducted into the Western New York Entertainment Hall of Fame today.

Fagan was president and CEO of Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo for 16 years. He joins three other inductees into the hall of fame.

An announcement and celebration of the inductees is set for today at Shea’s. The WNY Entertainment Hall of Fame was first established by the Shea’s Board of Trustees in 1987 and inducted 16 iconic Western New York performers between 1989 and 2003. The hall of fame program is being reintroduced after a 21-year hiatus.

Fagan “speaks fondly about his time in Chautauqua County,” said Theresa Kennedy, Shea’s director of communications.

“He was born and raised in Dunkirk, attending Cardinal Mindszenty High School for three years, before his family moved out of the state his senior year,” Kennedy said. “In addition to his 16-year tenure as Shea’s president & CEO, he served as an adjunct professor in Theatre/Business Management at SUNY Fredonia (from 2003-07), led a $160,000 fundraising campaign for SUNY Fredonia’s Department of Theatre & Dance, and provided marketing, publicity and underwriting services to the Chautauqua Theatre Company.”

The three other honorees today are Stephen McKinley Henderson, Lorna Hill (posthumously), and Albert Nocciolino.