Friendly's Co-founder, S. Prestley Blake, is Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship

Springfield, MA, October 18, 2012 --(PR.com)-- The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), which is headquartered at the Scibelli Enterprise Center at Springfield Technical Community College, has presented its 2012 Lifetime Achievement award to S. Prestley Blake, who co-founded the Friendly Ice Cream Corp. with his brother, Curtis, in 1935. The honor was bestowed at NACCE’s 10th annual conference, held last week in Chicago, IL. NACCE is the nation’s leading organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship through community colleges.

“Our Lifetime Achievement award is presented to someone who has not only built a highly successful business but who also has played an important role in their community through participation in civic and philanthropic activities,” said NACCE’s Executive Director Heather Van Sickle. “Everyone here in the Pioneer Valley knows about the great business Mr. Blake and his brother built, but fewer people are aware of the very important role he had in both the founding of STCC and of NACCE, an organization whose members are helping entrepreneurs and small business people all across the country make their dreams come true.

“Not only was Mr. Blake very instrumental in encouraging the re-use of the Springfield Armory buildings for a community college in 1968, he also provided the $100,000 in seed money that supported the founding of NACCE in 2002,” Van Sickle said. “In the ten years since then, NACCE has grown to include nearly 300 colleges in the U.S. and abroad, representing over 1,400 entrepreneurship education professionals who expose approximately 465,000 students to the possibility of putting their newly acquired skills and knowledge to work in their own business, if not immediately then at some point in the future. The long-lasting and widespread impact of Mr. Blake’s initial grant cannot be overstated. He truly helped us start a movement for entrepreneurship on community college campuses, and as we celebrate our 10th year, we are honored to recognize him with the Lifetime Achievement award.”

Now age 97, Mr. Blake lives in Connecticut. His autobiography, A Friendly Life, was published last year.

About NACCE
The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, is an organization of educators, entrepreneurs, and distinguished business development professionals providing quality programs and services in entrepreneurship education and serving as advocates community-based entrepreneurship. Founded in 2002, NACCE is at the heart of the "entrepreneurship movement.” Through membership, an annual conference and exhibition, a quarterly journal, monthly webinars and podcasts, a dynamic list-serv, and other resources, NACCE serves as the hub for the dissemination and integration of knowledge and successful practices regarding entrepreneurship education and student business incubation. These programs and courses advance economic prosperity in the communities served by its member colleges. NACCE is a founding member of the White House-led Startup America Partnership. For more information, visit http://www.nacce.com.