Stewart Prestley Blake’s rules for life were simple: don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t bed hop, work hard, and have dessert with every meal.
While his stepdaughter Susan Abello doesn’t recommend following Blake’s eating habits, she attributes his success as a father, friend, business owner, and philanthropist to these core principles.
Blake, who died in 2021 at the age of 106, was a shrewd businessman — but he was also accustomed to the sweet things in life. He co-founded Friendly ice cream shop in 1935 and grew the store into a restaurant chain along the East Coast. After he retired, he constructed a replica of Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, in Somers, Connecticut, which he donated to Hillsdale College in 2019.
“He was all about ethics,” Abello said. “If he shook your hand and said, ‘This is the way it’s gonna be,’ that’s the way it was. He never went back on his word.”
Blake and his brother Curtis dropped out of college during the Great Depression to do the impossible — start a business. The brothers borrowed $547 from their parents to open up an ice cream shop in Springfield, Massachusetts. They were nearly 21 years old, still too young to sign a lease for a storefront, but their mother, who pushed them to start the business, signed it for them.
“Their mom had seen the guy with one of those portable freezers selling ice cream cones, and they got the idea that they could make their own ice cream, so they did,” Abello said. “They bought that ice cream machine, started doing that, and then one thing led to another.”
Friendly’s was born, though the first store was just called Friendly. It wasn’t until 1988, after Blake had sold the company, that the “s” was added.
On their first day of business, the brothers made just $27.61, selling each ice cream cone for a nickel. By 1940, they had churned out 23,000 gallons of ice cream, scooped $8,000 worth of cones, and expanded to a second location.
“He definitely learned from his childhood that anything’s possible if you make it happen,” Abello said.
After closing its doors during World War II, Curtis and Prestley reopened the shop when the war ended. After nearly 40 years of successful business, the brothers sold Friendly’s in 1979 to the Hershey Company for $169 million. Adjusting for inflation, The New York Times estimates the price would be roughly $620 million today. At the time of the sale, the company had expanded to over 500 locations.
Before Blake sold Friendly’s, he married Abello’s mom, Helen, whose first husband died when Abello was 16.
“When he married my mom, he asked me to call him ‘Dad,’ and I didn’t have a dad so I was happy to do so,” Abello said. “My father died when I was 16 — he died of cancer and he had cancer the last few years of his life. I knew Pres since I was born, my dad worked for him — he was vice president of personnel at Friendly’s ice cream. Pres was always part of our life. He stepped in after my dad died and started taking care of my mom right away.”
Far from retiring after he sold his company, Blake kept himself busy yachting up the Gambia River in Africa, riding around in his Rolls Royces, and, of course, building a replica of Monticello.
What caused Blake to build Monticello is unclear, his stepdaughter said.
“Dad gets this idea that he wants to build Monticello, and we all go, ‘Oh my god, that’s such a weird idea,’” Abello said. “I admit I don’t have the vision, but Pres had the vision and he loved that building.”
Abello said she had always loved Hillsdale after hearing its advertisements on Rush Limbaugh’s radio program and persuaded her stepfather to donate to the school.
“Hillsdale’s mission and Pres’ mission went hand in hand,” Abello said. “He had been giving money to all the local colleges for his whole adult life, but when he heard of Hillsdale it was very late in his life after Monticello was built. He recognized that that’s where he should focus because of what was happening in the country.”
Blake sold the mansion to a friend for $2 million — only to buy it back and donate it to Hillsdale after giving College President Larry Arnn a tour of the property.
“He took Larry over to see Monticello, and I guess between the two of them Larry said, ‘I want this,’’’ Abello said. “Pres probably said, ‘I know you do and I am going to get it for you.’”
The Blake Center’s Executive Director Labin Duke said Monticello’s first floor hosts events, while the second floor contains four suites where guest speakers stay. On the property, there is a patio that straddles the Connecticut and Massachusetts state line.
“It’s a lot of fun to host a party on the state line,” Duke said.
Since starting operations last year, the Monticello estate has hosted several events for the town, as well as dinners and retreats featuring Hillsdale professors.
Wayne Dumas, Blake’s property manager, said Blake loved giving tours of the property in his 1988 Rolls Royce Silver Spur, which he customized to be windowless with a leather roof.
“He was the only person who could drive, not look at the road, and take his hands off the wheel while giving a narrative on the object at hand,” Dumas said.
Abello said her stepfather’s love of Rolls Royces began when he was a little boy growing up in Springfield, where the car company built its chassis. At one point, he owned 24 — the largest collection in the world.
“He was a little boy and he’d watch those cars speed around the streets and he probably thought, ‘I want one of those,’” Abello said.
One of the first purchases that Blake and Curtis made after starting their business was a new delivery car — a 1936 Ford Phaeton that the brothers bought with a small down payment and $25 a month until the car was paid off.
At the end of the day, hard work and coffee flavored ice cream are Blake’s recipe for success.
“Coffee was also his mother’s favorite flavor and she made the syrup for it at their home by grinding up the coffee grounds when they first started,” Abello said. “They worked on getting the flavor strong enough until it was perfect.”
