ELLSWORTH — Although the reactions to the fast of an advocate for the mentally retarded have ranged from respect to derision, one longtime friend said Jeffery Cake’s gesture is not surprising given his background.

Cake, who began fasting July 1 to draw attention to the needs of the retarded, concurs with that assessment.

For starters, “I come from a family very active in helping the elderly and handicapped,” said Cake, executive director of Yesterday’s Children, an agency of three care facilities for the mentally disabled.

His family members also were concerned with civil rights, and he participated in marches and other demonstrations.

According to Cake, his mother was the first Maine woman to serve as a Marine. His father’s side of the family were from the Philadelphia area.

Although he served in the Navy, Cake believes today’s U.S. military budget is bloated at the expense of needed social programs for groups such as the retarded.

After founding the MDI helpers serving disabled citizens in 1975, Cake became executive director of the Kennebec-Somerset Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council in 1979. In 1982, he became teaching principal of Swan’s Island Consolidated School.

Cake was hired in 1983 as executive director of Northern Aroostook Alternatives, and Cyr Plantation Home.