“E” is for Edwards, James Burrows (1927-2014). Governor, US Secretary of Energy, college president. After Edwards graduated from the College of Charleston, he earned his dental degree from the University of Louisville. He established an oral-surgery practice in Mount Pleasant. During the 1960s, Edwards was attracted to the Republican Party and in 1972 was elected to the South Carolina Senate. In 1974 he became the first Republican governor in the state in the twentieth century. As governor he successfully pushed for the Education Finance Act. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed him Secretary of Energy. Edwards resigned in 1982 and returned home as to begin a remarkable seventeen-year stint as president of the Medical University of South Carolina. James Burrows Edwards retired in 1999 to widespread praise for his leadership, thereby capping his remarkable public career.
“E” is for Edwards, James Burrows (1927-2014).
