Everyone is Turning Out as Frank D. Stella Celebrates “90”

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STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., Oct. 20, 2009 – Successful entrepreneur, supporter of education and human services and civic leader Frank D. Stella will celebrate his 90th birthday. La Festa, a gala event on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, 6 p.m., at Penna’s in Sterling Heights, MI. The gala will feature a reception, tribute program and dinner. Tickets are $100. Tribute book ads and sponsorships available. For more information on La Festa visit www.celebratefdstella.com or call 313-274-0055 (FDS@m-s-productions.com)

“Frank Stella has worked tirelessly to improve the life of people in Michigan and throughout our country,” said Anthony Jr. Rugiero, Antonio’s Cucina Italiana, Event Chairman. “He has helped build industry, business and non-profit, creating jobs for hundreds. He has represented the interest of our community even as he mingled with heads of state and celebrities. We are looking forward to celebrating this exceptional man.”

Stella is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Detroit based F.D. Stella Products Company, distributors of food service and dining equipment. He founded the company in 1946 and serves customers throughout the United States.

He has served on the board of many medical and educational institutions including the University of Detroit/Mercy, DMC and Detroit Urban League. He has also been a prominent civic and political leader, including serving as chair of the National Republican Committee and has been an appointee of four U.S. presidents: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush, Sr., as well as Governors William Milliken, James J. Blanchard, and John M. Engler, and Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young. Stella was selected Michigander of the Year, 1997.

A longtime friend of the arts, he has been chairman of Save Orchestra Hall, a board member and vice chair of Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall, and a member of the board of Michigan Opera Theatre.

Stella was decorated by the Italian government three times, receiving its highest decoration, “Grande Ufficiale,” and was awarded a doctorate in business by the Gentium Pacem University in Rome, was awarded the Seal of the University of Bologna, has served on the Board of Advisors for Johns Hopkins University Bologna Center and on the Board of Gregorian University of Rome Foundation.

In World War II, he was drafted as a private and was honorably discharged as a major in the U.S. Army Air Force.

Proceeds from La Festa will benefit four national nonprofit organizations that are dear to Stella: National Italian American Foundation Scholarship Fund (www.niaf.org), Orders of the Sons of Italy in America (www.osia.org), Italian Language Inter-cultural Alliance (www.ilicait.org), and Boys Town of Italy (www.boystownofitaly.org).

Event produced by Michigan Studio Productions LLC. (313-274-0055)