Supporters Like You
Read about the wonderful supporters who are making the Hillsdale College purposes of high learning, character, faith, and freedom in classical education possible for many generations to come.
S. Prestley and Helen Blake
The Blake Center for Faith and Freedom is a satellite campus of Hillsdale College in Somers, Connecticut. Opened in 2020, the Blake Center is named in honor of S. Prestley and Helen Blake, who donated the property to Hillsdale in 2019. The crown jewel of the property is a replica of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, which features the Jefferson Library, a collection of rare and antique books according to the same system Jefferson would have used in his own Monticello.
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Pres, who passed away at the age of 106, founded the Friendly Ice Cream Company in 1935 with his brother Curtis. They grew it into a thriving restaurant business with locations across the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States, and they sold it in 1979.
Over the years, Pres transformed “a field and some trees” into a beautiful pastoral setting, says Helen. His passion for landscaping and construction projects continued well into his 90s. He loved architecture, and at the age of 98, he decided to build a replica of Monticello.
Helen earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from Bates College and Springfield University, respectively, and taught middle school algebra. She has served as a trustee for many non-profit organizations and supported her husband’s many endeavors. Together they created what President Arnn describes as “paradise.”
Pres and Helen Blake were awarded honorary Doctor of Public Service degrees by Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn and Hillsdale Provost Christopher VanOrman in February 2020 at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar in Naples, Florida.
Don Davis
Don Davis is a long-time supporter and friend of the college who has shared his knowledge of free market economics with hundreds, if not thousands, of people at Money Show conferences and Hillsdale College Freedom Forums over the last 20 years. Davis served in the U.S. Army National Guard for eleven years and continues to support military veterans and others through ongoing volunteer work. Davis has a passion for free market economics and for helping others achieve financial independence, and out of this passion grew his support for Hillsdale College.
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Don Davis has a special interest in history, and particularly World War II, and is concerned about how young Americans look more to sports and entertainment for role models, rather than to the great men and women of history like the heroes of World War II.
While volunteering at Money Show conferences, Davis helps sign up subscribers for Imprimis, which he began reading when its circulation was only 100,000 – while its readership now exceeds six million. Don Davis also supports Hillsdale College through his IRA and by funding a scholarship, which helps maintain Hillsdale’s freedom from any government funding or intervention.
“Our Founding Fathers knew that education—and an educated populace—were need to preserve our Republic. Hillsdale is the only college today that’s really fighting for America.”
—Don Davis
Howard Shaw
Howard Shaw was introduced to Hillsdale College more than 40 years ago by a friend who recommended Imprimis. Since then, he has become a regular attendee of Hillsdale events, an avid reader of Hillsdale publications, and a frequent correspondent with members of the Hillsdale community, including President Arnn, who has said this of Shaw: “In war and peace and for his whole life, Howard has been a man of principle and duty. I have had the privilege of knowing him for 20 years, and I know no finer citizen and friend.”
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Howard Shaw received his own degree from Denison University, served in the Air Force, and was successful in business, having started and run a builders’ hardware manufacturing company in California. He attended, among many other Hillsdale events, the 150th anniversary celebration in 1994 and the Winston Churchill statue dedication in 2004. Shaw has also volunteered his time to inform attendees of an investment conference about Hillsdale and sign them up for Imprimis.
In retirement, he remains dedicated to the Hillsdale mission. Howard Shaw was an original donor to the Eagle Scout Scholarship in 2005, and he has establisehd several gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts to benefit the College and his family. His generosity was recognized with an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree in 2001.
Kevin Kehoe and the Kehoe Family Foundation
Kevin Kehoe first learned about Hillsdale in June 2020, when he read a statement issued by President Arnn in response to criticisms of the College. “He spoke of cheap virtue and jumping on bandwagons,” Kehoe recalls. “It was brilliant. I liked what he wrote, and I thought, ‘These are good people. Let me find out about them.’”
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Kehoe was raised in New York as the eldest of six children and has earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the State University of New York – Stony Brook, an MBA from Southern Methodist University, and a master’s degree in international finance from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. He started his own business in 1990 after some experience at the consulting firm Coopers & Lybrand, and has worked for himself ever since.
The Kehoe Family Foundation, founded on proceeds from sale of one of Kehoe’s own software companies, focuses on education, cancer patients, and veterans returning to civilian life. The Kehoe Family Initiative for Entrepreneurial Excellence at Hillsdale College represents the Foundation’s first philanthropic venture. Kehoe was eager to get involved once he heard about the plan to launch a program supporting students with entrepreneurial aspirations. Each student in the program cohort receives a $10,000 scholarship over the course of the program, attends a variety of seminars and workshops, and learns from experienced professionals through the Kehoe Initiative Speaker Series.
On the topic, Kehoe said: “Of all the College initiatives I learned about, this one seemed just right. Education and entrepreneurialism are what I’ve doen my whole life, and to be able to share that with Hillsdale’s young men and women is a great thing.”
“To me, Hillsdale is an oasis of clear thinking in a barren desert of nonsense.”
—Howard Shaw
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