Columbia Star

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South Carolina Business Hall of Fame to induct three





Contributed byKatherine Robinson

Three business leaders have been selected for induction into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame. They are Darla D. Moore, vice president of Rainwater, Inc., and founder of the Palmetto Institute, Robert S. Small, Sr., former chairman and CEO of Dan River Mills, and Robert Mills, the United States’ first Federal architect.

The inductees will be honored at the 23rd annual Business Hall of Fame banquet on May 24, 2007, at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. The Hall of Fame, established by Junior Achievement of Central South Carolina and The State newspaper in 1985, honors South Carolinians and business men and women in South Carolina who, through their accomplishments, serve as champions of free enterprise and role models for tomorrow’s business leaders.

Darla D. Moore, named by Fortune magazine as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in American Business,” is a partner and president of Rainwater, Inc., one of the largest private investment firms in America. A native of Lake City, Moore earned a BA degree in political science from USC and an MBA from George Washington University. During the 1980s, Moore made a name for herself by taking over companies in bankruptcy and making them profitable. More recently, she has become a dynamic leader in improving S.C.’s economy and educational levels.

Robert S. Small Sr. of Greenville is the former chairman and CEO of Dan River Mills, which manufactured apparel fabrics and home fashion products and developed the bed- in- a- bag concept. Small was also an officer of S.C. National Bank, treasurer of Ottaray Textiles, and Haynsworth Mills, and president of Woodside Mills. He served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank and as president of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute from 1977 to 1979.

Small’s success in the textile industry was matched with his devotion to education and the community. He invested time and financial resources in numerous projects, including the College of Charleston library, relocation of Furman University, The Citadel Development Foundation, ETV Foundation, South Carolina Aquarium, Greenville water system, Greenville- Spartanburg International Airport, and Greenville Hospital.

Robert Mills, hailed as the first real American professional architect, left a trail of worthy accomplishments. Born in 1781 in Charleston, Mills attended the College of Charleston where he studied architecture. From 1800- 1820, Mills worked as an architect in Washington, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and was associated with Thomas Jefferson, James Hoban, architect of the White House and S.C.’s first capitol building, and Benjamin Latrobe.

Mills returned to Charleston in 1820 and became engineer and architect for the state. In 1836, President Jackson appointed Mills architect of public buildings in Washington, and he moved to the capitol. He was responsible for designing and supervising construction of the Treasury Building in 1836 and the Patent Office and the U.S. Post Office, both begun in 1839. Mills also designed the Washington Monument, Washington Monument in Baltimore, Bunker Hill Monument, and Monument Church in Richmond, Va. Mills died in 1855.

For additional information on this event, contact Katherine Robinson at (803) 252-1974.




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