Dean Blake Scholarship

In November, 2011, the Asphalt Pavement Association of WV Board of Directors, with support from the WV Crushed Aggregates Council, renamed the existing APAWV scholarship to the Dean Blake Memorial Scholarship.  The $50,000 endowment established in honor of the association’s first executive director that will support student education at the West Virginia University College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.  Lucien Dean Blake, II, of Frankfort, Kentucky, passed away due to complications from Marfan's Syndrome at the Hospice Care Center at St. Joseph's Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, on June 5, 2011.

Dean Blake was born in Charleston, WV, on June 22, 1939. A gifted student and all-state multi-sport athlete, Dean attended Charleston High School, graduating in 1957 as class president. Dean accepted a scholarship to Virginia Tech, where he was a four-year player on the varsity basketball team. He graduated with a degree in industrial engineering in 1961. He married the former Judie Young on June 30, 1962. After graduation, Blake worked for the Department of the Navy in Maryland on the Polaris Missile Project. He was charged with developing a scheduling and management information system for this massive project.

In 1964, he accepted the position of management analyst for the West Virginia Department of Highways. Over the next 15 years, Blake dedicated himself to improving efficiencies within the WVDOH, while aggressively pursuing adequate funding for more and better roads. He was named the Deputy Commissioner in 1977, and also served as Chairman of the Governor's Task Force on Secondary Roads. Under his leadership, the state undertook its most aggressive and fruitful secondary roads program in its history.

Blake became the founding Executive Director of the Flexible Pavements Council (FPC) of West Virginia (now known as APAWV) in 1979. FPC was the first organization in West Virginia dedicated to the promotion and improvement of asphalt. In this role, Dean continued to lead the fight for adequate funding for transportation on both the state and national levels.

In 1983, Blake accepted the position of Executive Director of the Plantmix Asphalt Industry of Kentucky (PAIKY), where his mission continued to be to work for a better product, improved quality, and to expand the asphalt market. He was a registered lobbyist and a prolific writer on highway related subjects. His experience, longevity and principled leadership resulted in measurable benefits to the industry and earned him the respect and admiration of all who knew him.

Blake retired in 2008, and over the course of his career, he saw many changes in the asphalt industry, and was an integral voice through the "Asphalt Revolution."

He was elected twice by his peers to act as chairman of the State Asphalt Pavement Association Executives (SAPAE). In 2004, the University of Kentucky's Civil Engineering Department's Construction Management Founders Society honored him with their coveted "Lifetime Achievement Award." The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) honored him with its prestigious "Distinguished Service Award."