Curtis Blake

Curtis Livingston Blake (April 15, 1917 – May 24, 2019) was an American businessman and philanthropist.[2][3][4][5]

Curtis Blake
Born
Curtis Livingston Blake

(1917-04-15)April 15, 1917
Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedMay 24, 2019(2019-05-24) (aged 102)
Hobe Sound, Florida, U.S.
NationalityUnited States
OccupationBusinessman and philanthropist
Years active1935–1979
Known forCo-founder of the Friendly Ice Cream Corporation[1]

Biography

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey to Herbert Prestley Blake and Ethel Stewart Blake, Curtis and his elder brother, Stewart Prestley Blake (known as "S. Prestley Blake"), jointly founded the Friendly Ice Cream Corporation (later known more commonly as "Friendly's"), in 1935 (during the Great Depression) in their native Massachusetts. By the 1970s, the brothers began to fight over the direction of the business. The company was sold to Hershey Foods in 1979 for $164 million.[6]

Under Hershey Foods, Friendly's grew to more than 800 eateries, the highest number in its history. But the chain began to flounder because of high labor costs and intense competition. Donald Smith, a veteran restaurant executive, bought Friendly's for $375 million in 1988. Most analysts believed he paid far too much for the struggling firm, strapping the company a huge debt.[7][8]

Blake died on May 24, 2019 in Hobe Sound, Florida at the age of 102.[9]

Other

A former patron and benefactor of the Springfield, Massachusetts-based American International College, Blake asked that his name be removed from the school's campus following the decision by the AIC to close the off-campus Curtis Blake Day School in June 2015 for 37 students with language-learning disabilities, reportedly due to declining enrollment. The Children's Study Home Students, also of Springfield, stepped in to provide for the children, who would otherwise have been displaced.[10]

gollark: But the enforcement of it is even weirder than that:- there are "TV detector vans". The BBC refuses to explain how they actually work in much detail. With modern TVs I don't think this is actually possible, and they probably can't detect iPlayer use, unless you're stupid enough to sign up with your postcode (they started requiring accounts some years ago).- enforcement is apparently done by some organization with almost no actual legal power (they can visit you and complain, but not *do* anything without a search warrant, which is hard to get)- so they make up for it by sending threatening and misleading letters to try and get people to pay money
gollark: - it funds the BBC, but you have to pay it if you watch *any* live TV, or watch BBC content online- it's per property, not per person, so if you have a license, and go somewhere without a license, and watch TV on some of your stuff, you are breaking the law (unless your thing is running entirely on battery power and not mains-connected?)- it costs about twice as much as online subscription service things- there are still black and white licenses which cost a third of the price
gollark: Very unrelated to anything, but I recently read about how TV licensing works in the UK and it's extremely weird.
gollark: "I support an increase in good things and a reduction in bad things"
gollark: Or maybe they just check it for keywords automatically, who knows.

References
  1. "Friendly's and its founders are aging well". The Boston Globe. 28 August 2014.
  2. Jones, Tim (14 April 2017). "Co-Founder of Friendly's Ice Cream Celebrating 100th Birthday". NBC Boston. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  3. Jones, Tim (14 April 2017). "Co-Founder of Friendly's Ice Cream Celebrating 100th Birthday". NECN. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  4. Sy Becker (13 April 2017). "Friendly's co-founder Curtis Blake's 100th birthday celebrated". WWLP. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  5. Kinney, Jim (April 2017). "Friendly's co-founder Curtis Blake celebrates 100th birthday". Masslive. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  6. "Curtis Blake, Friendly’s Ice Cream co-founder, dead at 102", Dave Canton, Masslive, 27 May 2019. Accessed 14 September 2019. "Born April 15, 1917 in Jersey City, New Jersey to Herbert Prestley and Ethel Stewart Blake, Curtis Blake was a member of the 11th generation of the Deacon Samuel Chapin lineage, co-founder of the city of Springfield."
  7. "Friendly's co-founder S. Prestley Blake nears 100th birthday; Springfield to celebrate". Masslive. October 2010.
  8. "Friendly's and its founders are aging well". The Boston Globe. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  9. Obituary of Curtis Blake, Boston.com, 26 May 2019.
  10. "Friendly's co-founder Curtis Blake has AIC remove his name from campus building". Masslive. October 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
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