You can't forget the following:
Xanadu - The source of much original VW scripting when it was the Descent Chronicles and, more importantly, started the original FS1 Mission Archives. Without Xanadu, there might not have been a cohesive FS community.
Heiko Hermann - Descent Network's FS Tools Programmer. No tools, no MODs. Heiko administered the FDL, which was where all the development action originally occurred.
Patel - On FDL, he came up with a lot of initial modding techniques and fixes for sexps. He also talked me into starting mission reviews, which led to me being contacted by Xanadu and eventually becoming part of the Descent Chronicles team.
Zarathud (me!) - Back when I had free time and didn't bill at huge hourly rates, I tried to create as many tutorials about modding and mission design as possible. Those tutorials are still up at VW under "Staff" (thankfully, as I can't respond to e-mail regularly anymore). I also started the mission reviews at the DC/VW and did various editorials (including the one about the Battle of Endor syndrome when people were running at 200 MHz).
Dark - He modeled back when everything had to be done the "hard way" and we were figuring things out. He produced some cool stuff that kept the MOD hope alive in the early days.
IceFire - In the community longer than anyone I can remember and took up actual development work while I worked on tutorials.
Sorry if I'm forgetting anyone. I've been out of community for a while, but I still do check these BBs occasionally.