Memphis Business Journal -

The Women’s Foundation of Greater Memphis has named it 2011 Legends Awards honorees.

Barbara R. Hyde, Onie Johns, Deanie Parker, Marguerite Piazza and the late Annie Laurie Ervin Willis will be honored April 19 at an event at The Peabody Hotel Memphis. The event begins at 6 p.m.

Hyde, co-president of The Hyde Family Foundation along with her husband J.R. “Pitt” Hyde III, has been among Memphis’ most notable philanthropist. The Hyde foundation was listed as the fourth largest foundation in Memphis in Memphis Business Journal’s 2011 Book of Lists based on total contributions of $13.1 million in 2008 to education, civic and cultural causes.

Parker, president and CEO of Soulsville Foundation, was instrumental in building Memphis in May and was a long-time leader at The Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

Native Memphian Piazza has long been known for her operatic talents, but she’s continued her public role as a spokesman for the American Cancer Society. Starting in 1975 she began hosting a charity gala for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital that’s now in its 35th year.

Willis burst onto the Memphis scene in 1961 as one of 12 mothers who accompanied their children to integrate Memphis City Schools. She later founded the Leggett Center in Frayser and served on the board of the American Cancer Society.