PENN TWP — The Butler County Chamber of Commerce celebrated the past and present Thursday night with its annual Celebrate Business dinner at the Butler Country Club.

About 150 chamber members attended the dinner, which honored William A. Morgan Jr., a longtime Butler County businessman and chamber member who died this year.

Before the dinner, a video celebrating Morgan's accomplishments was shown, followed by a speech by his longtime assistant, Lois Mergenthaler.

"Bill Morgan was like a father, brother and boss to me, and he put up with me for 48 years," she said. "He was wise and firm and he got the job done."

She also praised those in attendance for "making a difference" in the county.

At the event, the chamber presented two of its annual awards: the Chamber Business Champion and the William A. Morgan Jr. Entrepreneur of the Year.

In honoring present accomplishments, the chamber named The Community Development Corporation of Butler County as the 2009 Chamber Business Champion.

Accepting the award, Diane Sheets, the CDC's executive director, explained how the private, nonprofit organization delivers public money for development projects in the county, and that these projects are done with the same financial requirements that are demanded of those in private business.

"Through our efforts, Sysco came to Jackson Township and has grown, Wise Business Forms did not go to Georgia, United Plate Glass moved into Kriess Road Business Park and has grown and grown," Sheets said.

She also pointed to the CDC's work to bring Aldi's distribution center to the Victory Road Business Park in Clinton Township, where of 600 acres, only 50 remain undeveloped; and to bring MEDRAD's newest manufacturing facility to that same park, instead of having it go to Ireland.

Sheets said while some investments do not pay off as planned, in the past 11 years at least 80 percent have been successful.

She added it has been proposed for the 2009-10 state budget that much of the state money economic development groups like the CDC get for developers is being cut completely. If that occurs, that would force the CDC to "think and act more like a business," she said.

In thanking the chamber for the award, Sheets said, "To have one of the county's strongest business organizations, the chamber, recognize the other, the CDC, is a great honor."

In honoring the past, the chamber presented the William A. Morgan Jr. Entrepreneur of the Year award to David Lloyd, who helped found the CDC 50 years ago this year.

Lloyd grew up in Mercer County and served in the military in World War II. After the war, he came to Butler County as a salesman for the National Cash Register Co.

In 1950, he and Johnny Johnson opened the Lloyd-Johnson Co. on Main Street, selling office and business supplies. Lloyd owned the business until 1984.

After selling that business, Lloyd and Robert Koehler formed K&L Real Estate, becoming owners of several apartment buildings in Butler and later developing Moraine Commons.

On Thursday night, Lloyd said he always has participated in so many civic and business organizations that his wife, Jean, has often suggested he slow down and relax a bit, "but she has always supported whatever I have done."

Besides the chamber and the CDC, Lloyd has worked with the United Way of Butler County, the Butler Blind Association, the American Cancer Society, the Butler Rotary Club, the Butler Symphony Association, and the Butler County Travel and Convention Bureau.

He said the current leadership of the chamber and the CDC are "the best we've ever had," and he looks forward to a positive future of both organizations.