Estel Wood "Ed" Kelley is considered the "modern day" founder of Steak 'n Shake, a chain of sit-down, old-fashioned style restaurants known for their Steakburgers and hand-dipped milkshakes. In 1981, E.W. Kelley & Associates, a group led by E.W. Kelley, bought controlling interest in Steak 'n Shake, and grew the company from a small chain to the more than 450 location chain it is today (2006).

Originally from Sharpsville, Indiana

Sharpsville, Indiana

Sharpsville is a town in Liberty Township, Tipton County, Indiana, in the United States. It is part of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, Sharpsville's population is 607.-Geography:...

, Kelley attended Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

's (IU) School of Business in the 1930s. While at IU, he founded the Accounting Club, chaired IU Sing, was president of the IU student body, and was a member of Sigma Chi

Sigma Chi

Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...

 fraternity

Fraternities and sororities

Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...

. He graduated in 1939.

Kelley ran Bird's Eye, a division of General Foods

General Foods

General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the USA by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The name General Foods was adopted in 1929, after several corporate acquisitions...

, and thought up adding pearl onions to frozen peas. He later headed Fairmont Foods, where he helped develop the Klondike Bar

Klondike bar

Klondike is a brand name for a dessert generally consisting of a vanilla ice cream square coated with a thin layer of chocolate-flavored coating. The first recorded advertisement for the Klondike was on February 5, 1922 in the Youngstown Vindicator. They are generally wrapped with a silver-colored...

, directed the roll-outs of Tang

Tang (drink)

Tang is a fruit-flavored breakfast drink. Originally formulated by General Foods Corporation food scientist William A. Mitchell in 1957, it was first marketed in powdered form in 1959....

 and Cool Whip

Cool Whip

Cool Whip is a brand of imitation whipped cream named a whipped topping by its manufacturer. It is used in North America as a dessert topping and in some no-bake pie recipes. It was generally described as "non-dairy" as it contained no cream or milk and no lactose; however, it did contain the milk...

, created parts of the Lean Cuisine

Lean Cuisine

Lean Cuisine is a brand of frozen entreés and dinners sold in the United States, Canada, and Australia by Nestlé. The brand began as low fat, low calorie versions of Stouffer's products. Today Lean Cuisine includes traditional dinners, ethnic dishes, pizzas, whole grain Spa Cuisine entreés, and...

 line, and brought Grey Poupon

Grey Poupon

Grey Poupon is a brand of Dijon mustard in the U.S.The brand of Dijon-style mustard was originally owned and marketed in the U.S. by the Heublein Company and now owned and manufactured by Kraft Foods. Like other Dijon mustards, Grey Poupon contains a small amount of white wine. It is made with...

 to America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and was responsible for the creation of A1 Steak Sauce

A1 Steak Sauce

A1 is a steak sauce and condiment for use with meat or game dishes. It was developed in the United Kingdom as a brand in the year 1831 and was later introduced to the United States by G.F...

.

He was founding partner of Kelley & Partners, Ltd. and taught at the Columbia Business School

Columbia Business School

Columbia Business School is the business school of Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1916 to provide business training and professional preparation for undergraduate and graduate Columbia University students...

.

Kelley has always been philanthropic, having given millions away to IU and Howard Community Hospital, now known as Howard Regional Hospital, in Kokomo, IN. He donated to Indiana University-Kokomo, (IUK), for the Kelley Student Center, Kelley House, the library building and the E.W. Kelley Scholarship fund. He gave money in 1999 to establish the E.W. Kelley Chair in Business Administration at IU Bloomington, and $23 million to establish the IU Bloomington's Business School's Kelley Scholars program in 1997, which led IU to rename the School of Business to the Kelley School of Business

Kelley School of Business

The Kelley School of Business is a top-ranked American business school operated by Indiana University. As of 2009, approximately 5,500 full-time students are enrolled on its Bloomington campus, as well as 1,750 students at the Indianapolis campus...

. He also supported the Bloomington campus' Alumni center, School of Music, the Mellencamp Pavilion, and the Alva Prickett Chair in Accounting.

E.W. Kelley maintained a home in Sharpsville until his death, and also a home in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. He had turned the old family farm, located on U.S. Route 31

U.S. Route 31

U.S. Route 31 is a long north–south highway connecting northern Michigan to southern Alabama, with its northern terminus at Interstate 75 near Mackinaw City, Michigan, and southern terminus at the combined U.S. Route 90 & U.S. Route 98 at Spanish Fort, Alabama...

 about 6 miles south of Kokomo, Indiana

Kokomo, Indiana

Kokomo is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States, Indiana's 13th largest city. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Howard and Tipton counties....

, into the Kelley Historical Agricultural Museum.

Other family interests include Kelley Farms, which has since merged with Adler Seeds

Adler Seeds

Adler Seeds is an American company that was founded in 1937 by Howard Adler, in Sharpsville, Indiana. Alder Seeds was formerly known as George Adler & Sons until later when it was then incorporated and called Alder Seeds....

of Sharpsville, just across the road from the E.W. Kelley home. Kelley Farms was run by E.W.'s brother Bill Kelley, who also owned Shady Kennels and the former Red Carpet Motel outside of Sharpsville. Adler Seeds was founded by neighbor and friend Howard Adler.

E.W. Kelley died on July 3, 2003 at the age of 86.

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