S. Prestley Blake, a Founder of Friendlyâs, Dies at 106
With a $547 loan from their parents, he and a brother opened the Friendly Ice Cream Shop in 1935, then built it into a chain of hundreds of restaurants.
S. Prestley Blake outside a Friendly’s restaurant in Port St. Lucie, Fla., in 2001. He and his brother started the business with a $547 loan from their parents.Credit.Gary I. Rothstein
Published Feb. 12, 2021Updated Feb. 16, 2021
S. Prestley Blake, who with his brother built a Massachusetts ice cream shop into the Friendlyâs restaurant chain, sold it for a huge profit in the 1970s and decades later helped engineer a takeover threat to protest what he saw as mismanagement, died on Thursday in Stuart, Fla. He was 106.