This fund, which was established in 1997 by Roy L. Lambert, Sr. as a tribute to S. Clark Butler, supports a prestigious annual visiting lecturer in entrepreneurship in the Warrington College of Business.

S. Clark Butler was born on March 2, 1919. He was raised on a farm in Tampa, FL and at 19, moved to Gainesville and started a fruit stand with $200. He branched out during the next six decades to build a property and development empire, beginning with apartments and expanding to shopping and services with the creation in 1975 of Butler Plaza, called “The Miracle Mile,” located on Archer Road. Butler was the founder and President of Butler Enterprises. He and his brother also built Westmoreland Estates, Palm View Estates, Westwood and Sunnybrook as well as developing the Millhopper Shopping Center on NW 23rd Avenue and 43rd Street.

Butler and family began Butler Enterprises in Gainesville in 1939 with a grocery and produce business. In the 1950s, he was elected Gainesville City Commissioner and then mayor. He went on to organize the Gainesville State Bank in 1977. Butler’s philanthropy also extended to county and city programs to care for the homeless.

Butler was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996 and credited his recovery of nearly a decade to the skill of the physicians at Shands at UF as well as the UF College of Medicine. In 2002, he was named an honorary alumnus. Butler and his wife of 65 years, Mary Catherine, had three children. He passed away on October 10, 2008.