Susan Stacy Entrenkin Yates Award Synopsis
The Auburn University Chapter of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is very fortunate to have resources which were made available by the late Mr. S. Blake Yates for awards for academic excellence. Mr. Yates was a distinguished member of Phi Kappa Phi. He held office in the Auburn University Chapter and regularly attended Phi Kappa Phi functions. He believed in encouraging and recognizing academic excellence. You could count on him being near the front at Phi Kappa Phi banquets and among the first to congratulate initiates and award winners.
Born on July 9, 1910, at Lineville, Alabama, Mr. Yates graduated from Lineville High School and received a Ph.C. (with honor) from Auburn University in 1932, a B.S. (with honor) from Auburn University in 1933, and a M.S. from the University of Florida in 1934. He practiced pharmacy in Anniston, Alabama, from 1934 to 1936. In 1936 he started a very successful career in the pharmaceutical industry working for Lederle Laboratories of New York and for Armour & Co. of Chicago, and serving as Vice President of the Research Corporation in New York City before retiring to Auburn in 1970. Upon returning to Auburn, Mr Yates served as Assistant to the Dean of the Auburn University School of Pharmacy. In 1976, Mr. Yates left Auburn University to work for the American Pharmacopeia in Washington, D.C. He retired a third time and returned to Auburn in 1980 where he continued to be professionally active.
Mr. Yates was also a successful investor in the stock market. He especially liked utility stocks. The Wall Street Journal was his required, daily reading.
We do not know much about Mr. Yates' mother, Susan Stacy Entrenkin Yates. We can only surmise that his great love and respect for her was the reason for establishing a Phi Kappa Phi award in her name. Perhaps she stimulated the love of learning in him and motivated him to seek academic excellence.
On June 30, 1983, Mr. Yates executed an agreement with the Auburn University Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi which formally established a fund and procedure for providing monetary support of the Phi Kappa Phi Susan Stacy Entrenkin Yates Award in memory of his mother. His previous contributions to endow the Award were 114.569 shares of common stock in the Southern Company (November 19, 1981) and 107.887 shares of common stock in the San Diego Gas & Electric Company (July 6, 1982). During the first years, Mr. Yates wrote a personal check for monetary support of the Award to one student, and the income from the stock was reinvested. Upon his death on December 10, 1985, Mr. Yates bequeathed $77,608.46 to further endow the Award. The Chapter has an Investment Committee which employs a professional financial consultant to administer the Yates Fund according to the Yates Agreement. The income from the Fund provides monetary support for the Award.