Rotary Club of Key West Awards Edward B. Knight Its First Hall of Fame Award

The Rotary Club of Key West has chosen Edward B. Knight as its first Jefferson B. Browne Hall of Fame recipient.

The Rotary Club of Key West is celebrating 100 years of service to Key West. Jefferson B. Browne, after whom the award is named, was the first Key West Rotary president. Browne later became Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court.

Hall of Fame recipient Edward B. Knight served as Rotary president in 1964-1965. He arrived in Key West as a naval aviator during WWII and later joined the Rotary International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians. He and his wife Joan opened one of the first Volkswagon dealerships in the U.S., in Key West. In 1957, he opened Knight Realty and now the company is Berkshire Hathaway Knight & Gardner Realty, a leading commercial and residential real estate company. Edward serves on the executive board of the South Florida Council Boy Scouts of America and has donated to the Boy Scout camp in the Keys, known as the Camp Sawyer Edward B. Knight Scout Reservation. He instituted a $4000 annual Rotary Scholarship Program with Florida Keys Community College -- the Edward B. Knight Rotary Club of Key West FKCC Vocational Scholarship. Edward follows the 4-Way Test in his business, and employees have kept the 4-Way Test card: “Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build good will and better friendship? Is it beneficial to all concerned?”

Other past and present community members who have been honored as “Rotary Legends” this centennial year were Jefferson B. Browne, Dr. Robert Carraway, Gerald “Moe” Mosher, Greg O'Berry, John G. Parks, Jr., Paul J. Sher, Edward Toppino, Robert Walker and Alton Weekley.

The Rotary Club of Key West works in the community to provide scholarships to Key West High School students, raises funds for its Children's Dental Program for those who cannot afford dental care, is responsible for the spectacular Key West 4^th of July fireworks celebration, raises funds for the Hospital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti, contributes to Polio Plus for the eradication of polio, and more.