The Greater Butler County Business Hall of Fame is set to induct five new honorees as part of the Class of 2012 in a ceremony Thursday at the Oscar Event Center in Fairfield.

This year’s laureates, who will join the 68 previous honorees who have been inducted since 1989, include:

• R.C. “Red” Deluse, chairman of Hamilton Safe
• Derek Wayne Howard, president & owner of DHArchitects
• James G. Miller, retired senior vice president of Cincinnati Financial Corporation
• Susan Samoviski, retired Hamilton City Schools teacher
• Robert L. Weigel, funeral director and owner of Weigel Funeral Home

The award is a symbol of great achievement in business leadership, according to Carol Lucio, executive director for event organizer Junior Achievement OKI Partners.

While local chamber of commerce and community foundation presidents often nominate honorees, those who make the selection are past honorees themselves, independent of Junior Achievement.

“The criteria they look at is not just that they’ve excelled in business, but that they’ve made a significant contribution within their business, their industry or on others that they’ve worked with in their business life,” Lucio said. “And also that they’ve not just limited their contributions to business, but (also) philanthropy, making a difference in the community.

“If you look at each of these honorees, for this year and other years but particularly for this year, they’ve all made outstanding contributions to the community they’ve lived and worked in.”

The Business Hall of Fame celebration now is annual event that Junior Achievement areas nationwide host in order to honor business and community leadership excellence. Although the Business Hall of Fame tradition in Butler County originated in Hamilton to honor local leaders, nominations are now encouraged from throughout all of Butler County.

Inducting others into the Greater Butler County Business Hall of Fame cements their place for generations to come and inspires others to follow in their footsteps, according to committee chair and 2004 inductee Neil Cohen, co-owner of Cohen Brothers Incorporated, which operates scrap recycling facilities in Hamilton and Middletown.

“I think the history of industrialists and philanthropists and business people in Butler County is very long and very prolific,” Cohen said. “It’s important to create a legacy that remembers those people for the community and future generations.”

Tickets for the event are still available and are $125, which includes a reception hour at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m. and the program at 8 p.m., concluding at 9 p.m. For more information, call (513) 346-7100, ext. 103 or write to Carol.Lucio@ja.org.