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Mary Kathryn N. Frith of Martinsville has donated $1.5 million to Patrick Henry Community College for the construction of a new economic development center in the memory of her late husband, businessman J. Burness Frith.

The J. Burness Frith Economic Development Center will be a 15,000-square-foot building with electronic classrooms, offices, a lecture hall, an exhibit hall, computer labs, the Philpott Manufacturing Center and a small business incubator.

PHCC President Max Wingett said the center will �Unite industrial needs with educational and service capabilities and will assist existing industries and help attract new industries to the area through these partnerships. Mrs. Frith�s gift will make significant impact on our area economic development efforts.�

The center will be on the college�s campus in Henry County off Virginia 174, in view of the Martinsville City Reservoir. Construction is slated to begin this spring, and no completion date has been projected.

Preliminary floor plans by Smith & Beasley Architects include five general purpose rooms; a lecture hall with built-in seating for 30 people; two information processing labs; a five-office suite for the continuing education department; an exhibit room; storage, mechanical and janitorial rooms; and a nine-office and meeting room suite for the Philpott Manufacturing Center.

The manufacturing center, already located on campus, helps small manufacturers become more competitive by providing business and technical services. It will move to the new center.

Only one other building on the college�s campus, the Walker Fine Arts/Student Center, has been named for a donor. William F. Stone Hall and A. L. Philpott Hall were named as a result of General Assembly funding.

Burness Frith created Frith Construction Company, now run by his sons, Jay and Jim. Frith and his wife also had a daughter, Shelley.

A lifelong resident of Martinsville until his death in June, 1995, Frith was a founding director and past chairman of the Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce in the 1940�s. He was active in area economic development until his death, and served on the first board of directors of the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp., now called the Patrick Henry Development Council.

The chamber honored Frith in 1983 with its highest honor, the Heck Ford Award, for community services. In 1991, he was recognized as the southern Piedmont Region�s Economic Development Volunteer of the Year.

Frith was co-founder, with Dan Greene of Globman�s Department Store, and first president of the Patrick Henry Scholarship Foundation, which merged with the Patrick Henry Community College Foundation in 1994. The assets of the Scholarship Foundation at the time of the merger totaled $550,000.

�J. Burness Frith was very concerned about the well being of this community, and it is appropriate that his efforts toward improvement are continuing in this way,� said Kathleen Holt, director of institutional advancement and executive director for the Patrick Henry Community College Foundation.

�An economic development center has been in the college�s facilities master plan for several years,� Holt said.

The foundation�s �Continue the Revolution� campaign raised $3.3 million in gifts and pledges from 1991 to 1994. �Continue the Revolution: Part II� will begin in 1997, with a goal to double the endowment.

�The Frith gift provides a wonderful momentum for this second part of the campaign,� said foundation President Gary Collins.

Foundation funds are used to pay for projects that the college is not able to pay for with state funds. Along with scholarships, foundation funds have provided a full-time faculty member�s salary for the past two years; equipped a computer lab; provided Distinguished Faculty Awards; and provided professional development opportunities for faculty and staff.

PHCC area economic development efforts include preparing traditional students for employment or transfer to a four-year college or university; customized training services to business and industry; retraining for displaced workers; and occupational technical programs tailored to meet local needs.

Click for Follow-up Article - Dedication of the Frith Center, October 24, 1999

Frith Construction Company
P. O. Drawer 5028
Martinsville,  Virginia  24115
frith@frithconstruction.com