He helped defuse the United States' biggest prison uprising, spent a decade restoring an iconic Key West cultural center and is now proposing to create a federal historical park around Miami's Freedom Tower.

But Coral Gables attorney Rafael Peñalver, 56, is uneasy with public praise for his community service successes. After all, he explains: ``The pro bono work I do is what fulfills me. It's what gives my life purpose.''

The seeds of that philosophy were planted by his parents, Rafael, a doctor, and Aurora, a pharmacist, but they bloomed the night of May 8, 1969, when he won a Silver Knight award for science as a 17-year-old senior from Christopher Columbus Senior High -- the school's first honoree.

For 50 years, The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald have presented the Silver Knight awards to high school luminaries in honor of their community service and academic excellence.

Peñalver remembers the win as a life-changing experience. ''It set me on a course in life where I realized the value of service, which is what the Silver Knight recognizes,'' he says.

Peñalver won with a global warming project that now seems ahead of its time -- a meteorological study to determine the impact of unchecked development on South Florida's water supply and temperature.

Even though he went into law, Peñalver said: ``I've always been interested in how to apply science to benefit the most amount of people.''

He puts that theory in practice as chairman of the board of trustees of the Dr. Rafael A. Peñalver State Clinic in Little Havana, which serves some 500 patients a day. ''The clinic mission is to provide quality health care that treats patients with dignity and respect,'' he says.

The clinic is named in honor of Peñalver's father, who paved the way for Cuban physicians to regain their medical license in the United States.

''We know that if this clinic wasn't here, these people would have nowhere to go for medical care except an emergency room,'' said staff doctor Roberto Garcia.

Peñalver also headed the Dade Heritage Trust's Save the Freedom Tower Committee in its battle to save the pink tower from being dwarfed by monolithic downtown condominium developments.

Peñalver did similar rescue work for the San Carlos Institute in Key West, a Cuban patriotic and educational center on Duval Street where Cuban patriot and poet José Martí came in 1892 to unite the exile community in its fight for independence from Spanish rule.

Since becoming its president in 1986, Peñalver fought for the building's $3 million state-funded restoration -- then had to ward off efforts by Cuban officials to take over the historic building. Today, the San Carlos Institute is beautifully restored and houses a museum, library, art gallery and school.

His dedication to Cuban history comes from his parents, who fled the island in 1961 with their four children, but didn't forget where they came from. ''Every Sunday my father would gather us and our friends to teach us about Cuban history and culture,'' he remembers.

Peñalver, the oldest, soaked up his heritage, but also prepared for the future. He quickly learned English and excelled in school. Tall and studious by high school, he was elected student body president the year he won the Silver Knight. After graduation, he went to the University of Miami and graduated from its law school in 1975.

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