Philip Keyes Yonge was an American

United States

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

 businessman and civic

Civic engagement

Civic engagement or civic participation has been defined as "Individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern."-Forms:...

 leader. A resident of Pensacola

Pensacola

Pensacola is a city in the western part of the U.S. state of Florida.Pensacola may also refer to:* Pensacola people, a group of Native Americans* A number of places in the Florida:** Pensacola Bay** Pensacola Regional Airport...

, he was a prominent Floridian

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 was a founding member of the Florida Board of Control

Florida Board of Control

The Florida Board of Control was the statewide governing body for the State University System of Florida, which included all public universities in the state of Florida. It was replaced by the Florida Board of Regents in 1965.- History :...

 (the governing body of the State University System of Florida

State University System of Florida

The State University System of Florida is a system of eleven public universities in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2011, over 320,000 students were enrolled in Florida's state universities...

, Florida's public university

Public university

A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...

 system

University system

A university system is a set of multiple, affiliated universities and colleges that are usually geographically distributed. Typically, all member universities in a university system share a common component among all of their various names...

) and served on that board for almost 30 years as a member and chairman. The P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School in Gainesville

Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...

 is named for him.

Yonge was designated a Great Floridian

Great Floridians

Great Floridian is a title bestowed upon citizens in the state of Florida by the Florida Department of State. There were actually two formal programs...

 by the Florida Department of State in the Great Floridians 2000 Program. A plaque

Commemorative plaque

A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...

attesting to the honor is located at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (formerly the P.K. Yonge School), on Palafox Street in Pensacola.