"B" is for Brown, William Melvin, Jr. (1934-1994)

"B" is for Brown, William Melvin, Jr. (1934-1994). Manufacturer. A native Charlestonian and a graduate of South Carolina State, Brown served in the Army, taught in the Charleston County schools, and was the first black insurance consultant in Charleston. In 1972 he created American Development Corporation (ADCOR), the first minority-owned manufacturing plant in the southeast. By the early 1990s ADCOR was realizing revenues of more than $30 million annually and had 350 employees. The company’s manufacturing equipment and environmental testing facilities were geared mostly to sophisticated defense contracts. He was the first African American named to the Palmetto Business Forum, the State Ports Authority Board, and the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame. At the time of William Melvin Brown, Jr.’s death, ADCOR was the largest minority-owned manufacturing plant in the Unites States.