Do academics and graduate degree holders need to publish articles or books to be respected in their fields?
Publication is the most obvious route to prominence, but others most certainly exist.  I think it would be extremely rare for somebody to be well-known and respected for non-publication reasons without having ever published (expertise, as demonstrated by publication, is often a ticket for entry to other things), but there are definitely people who are known for things largely unrelated to their publications.

For example, I have some colleagues who are important figures in their community due to their prominent role in founding and maintaining a large annual event.  They've got some good publications, but that's not the primary thing that people know them and respect them for.  This is not the typical route, but it's also quite possible.