Two names were added to the Wall of Honor in the lobby of UFT headquarters on March 14 when former officers Harriet Merchant and Aminda Gentile were recognized for their significant contributions to the union.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew praised both “for their dedication” before Merchant’s nephew and Gentile thanked colleagues, friends and family members who packed the lobby.

Dean Smith spoke of his aunt’s “passion to help her students get to the next level” and her activism “for educational opportunities for children of color.”

Merchant, who died in March 2015, was a founder of the UFT and served as its treasurer from 1993 to 1997. She was the director of the UFT Scholarship Fund (now the Albert Shanker Scholarship Fund) that each year provides more than $1 million to deserving students from low-income families.

Besides her nephew, she was represented at the ceremony by her daughters Monica Schaper and Karen Robinson, their spouses and her grandchildren.

Gentile, a former vice president for education and longtime director of the UFT Teacher Center, called her UFT work “rewarding” and said she was “fortunate to work with such creative and smart people who liked being challenged and were willing to work around the clock.” Gentile spearheaded the union’s push against the misuse of high-stakes testing and unnecessary paperwork.

Mulgrew praised “the civility Aminda brings to everything” and noted she used that trait to the union’s advantage when dealing with the oversupply of lawyers hired by the Department of Education during the Bloomberg years.

He also pointed out how Gentile shouldered the burden of figuring out how to preserve the Teacher Center when its funding was cut in the aftermath of the 2008 recession. Current and retired Teacher Center staff and Gentile’s husband, John, were among those on hand to help honor her.