George Berkeley
b. March 12, 1685, County Kilkenny, Ireland
d. January 14, 1753, Oxford, England

Berkeley was an Anglican Bishop and a philosopher. He lived in Middletown (then part of Newport) from 1729 to 1731 at a plantation he called Whitehall, the main house of which still stands and is open to the public. During his brief sojourn in Rhode Island, he wrote a book (Alciphron), gave sermons at Trinity and St Paul's Churches, and founded the Philosophical Society in Newport, a precursor to the Redwood Library.
Berkeley was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1998.