Attorney Joel Collins, USC Alumnus (1935) J. Leon Pickens, and USC President Harris Pastides
J. Leon Pickens, uncle of Columbia attorney Joel Collins and resident of Houston, graduated in 1929 from high school in Chester, S.C. and from USC in 1935. Now 98 years old, he is giving his alma mater more than $100,000 in shares of stock, a bundle he began as a small sum he started to save long ago for the benefit of his beloved USC. Specifically, the gift is targeted for the College of Arts & Sciences, where Dr. Mary Anne Fitzpatrick is dean.
His nephew Collins and their family held a luncheon Monday, May 24 at the Summit Club to honor Pickens. Stan Lacy, the founding partner of their firm with Collins, sat at the table with Collins & Lacy attorney Robert Goings and his wife, law clerk Rebecca Goings. Banker Jeanne Volin of Carolina First was also at the table. A strong contingent from USC, led by President Pastides and Dean Fitzpatrick, was also present to salute and to thank Pickens, aka Uncle Pick.
To fund his college education, Pickens worked in the chemistry lab and also in Mrs. Weldon’s boarding house for all four years.
Dean Jack Pratt, USC Law, and Dean David Beard, SC Honors College
Dean Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, College of Arts and Sciences
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