SUNY Ulster College President Alan Roberts with Foundation Vice Chair and champion Darlene Pfeiffer

NEW PALTZ Darlene Pfeiffer, talented entrepreneur, generous philanthropist and celebrated community member was honored earlier this month in Atlanta, Georgia with a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees (AKFCF).

Darlene was the first woman in New York State to open a KFC franchise and went on to build five restaurants.

Since her childhood in Columbus, Ohio, Darlene L. Pfeiffer established the ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken Scholarship Presented by Darlene Pfeiffer’ with the Ulster Community College Foundation and later created the Darlene L. Pfeiffer Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, which supports the study and execution of entrepreneurial business development and management.

This endowed gift was the single largest gift and pledge to the College by a living donor, earning her recognition from the New York Community College Trustees with the Benefactor Vision for Tomorrow Award.

Darlene also gives six, $1,000 scholarships per year to students who demonstrate self-motivation and an entrepreneurial spirit. Darlene includes assistance to single parents in her scholarship criteria.

Every year she hosts a luncheon for the scholarship recipients at SUNY Ulster where she spreads the message that we can all help each other through giving and that philanthropy includes sharing one’s time and experience as much as one’s ability to financially support the mission.

She currently serves on the Ulster Community College Foundation Board as Vice Chair.

This year, Darlene leads economic development initiatives as the SUNY Ulster lead donor for private funding of the recently approved Pfeiffer Center for Business Innovation and Technology, a $1.4M Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Lab upgrade with connectivity to the local manufacturing industry and part of a state-wide network of research and testing labs for manufacturers.