RONALD RUSIN
Realtor of the Year

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors has named Ronald S. Rusin Jr., a Fall River real estate broker, its 2004 Realtor of the Year.

Rusin, owner of Re/Max Right Choice in Fall River, was one of 16 candidates who were nominated by local Realtor associations. Realtors are selected based on service to the local community, business accomplishments and service to the Realtor organization on the local, state and national levels.

“I was stunned,” said Rusin, who was nominated by the Greater Fall River Association of Realtors for the Realtor of the Year Award in 1998 and 2002 as well as this year. “It’s probably the single most important accomplishment for a Realtor.”

Currently serving a second consecutive one-year term as president of the Greater Fall River Association of Realtors, Rusin received the award at MAR’s professional awards banquet last Tuesday. Rusin, a Realtor in Greater Fall River for more than 17 years, is the chairman of the local association’s Government Affairs Committee. At the state level, Rusin is the MAR regional vice president for southeastern Massachusetts, a position he also held in 2002.

MAR also recognized Amy Greene, a Yarmouth Realtor, as the state’s real estate Educator of the Year. The award recognizes Realtors for their contributions and participation in activities that promote the professional development and career advancement of real estate practitioners. Greene, a state-certified real estate training instructor and broker-owner of Martin/Surette Realty in Dennis and South Yarmouth, has taught courses on the local and state levels and has developed specialized real estate training seminars for agents and brokers.

For the first time this year, MAR also presented three Realtors who are active in community service with Good Neighbor Awards. The awards were presented to Priscilla Harman of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Westfield, Thomas J. Maloney of Liberty Pierre Joseph Realty in Pittsfield and Jan Triglione of Re/Max Top Achievers in Reading. Nominations for Good Neighbor Awards are accepted from the state’s 16 local Realtor associations. Each award recipient receives a $1,000 grant from MAR for his or her designated charity.

In addition, MAR’s Charitable & Educational Foundation awarded $6,000 in grants to five organizations. The five nonprofit groups that received grants were: Battered Women’s Resources of Leominster, which provides shelter, counseling and legal services to women and children in north central Massachusetts; Citizens for Adequate Housing of Peabody, a group that operates two emergency shelters and develops affordable housing on the North Shore; First Congregational Church WorkCamp, a program in Marshfield that recruits youth and adult volunteers to perform home repairs for disabled, low-income and elderly people on the South Shore; Jessie’s House of Northampton, a shelter and transitional housing agency which helps families; and Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry, a group that provides food and other supplies to needy households.