Columbia attorney C. Heyward Belser was a brilliant scholar, a major figure in state politics and a World War II-trained leader who helped modernize state government, a former law partner said Friday.
"Heyward came up in the Old South school, but he exemplified a lot more than the 'good ol' boy' connection; he was a scholar who contributed great service in the General Assembly," Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal said.
The former chairman of the state's House Judiciary Committee died Thursday after a lengthy battle with leukemia.
A son of the late Irvine Furman Belser and Mary Campbell Heyward Belser, he was 75.
As a law partner, Toal said, Belser was "a brilliant mentor . . . and integrity was his byword."
As a politician, it was Belser's work in helping revise the state's constitution that paved the way for today's restructuring, she said.
"Constitutional revision -- that was Heyward's baby as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Restructuring had its roots in the paradigm shift he led," she said.
A grandson of the late Duncan Clinch Heyward, governor of South Carolina from 1903 to 1907, Belser was also a gifted tennis player.
He played competitively all his life and was a member of the S.C. Tennis Hall of Fame with a string of titles in singles and doubles competition.
It was not uncommon to see him and his partners "going at it in a spirited match while wearing topcoats to ward off the winter weather," Herman Helms, former sports editor of The State, once wrote in a column about Belser.
The column appeared in 1984 after Belser had captured Columbia's senior tennis title -- a half-century after he had won the city's junior title.
Belser never had a tennis lesson, but he was "the number one tennis player in South Carolina in his age classification from age 16 through age 70," recalled tennis partner Bill DeLoache of Columbia.
Belser was educated in Columbia's public schools and graduated magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina. He also was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of USC's master's degree program and received his law degree from Yale University.
During World War II, Belser served as a pilot in the India-China-Burma theater and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After the war, Belser practiced law in New York and Washington, D.C., before returning to Columbia, where he later became a senior partner of Belser, Baker, Barwick, Ravenel, Toal & Bender.
A member of the county, state and national Bar associations, Belser served as a Richland County representative from 1958 to 1970. He also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 1970 and was a past chairman of the Richland County Election Commission.
Belser also was on the board of the Columbia Art Association and the Family Services Association and secretary of the Vestry of Trinity Cathedral. He was a 30-year member of the Civitan Club of Columbia and belonged to Forest Lake Club, Palmetto Club and Summit Club.
In 1985, Belser joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina and Companion Corp. as senior vice president and general counsel.
In 1943 he married Elizabeth Anne Albright of Columbia, who died in 1979. They had two sons. In 1984 he married Shelvie Culbreth Burnside of Columbia.
Services for Belser will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, with burial in Greenlawn Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 4 to 6 p.m. today at the residence, 501 Trenholm Rd.
Surviving are his wife; sons, Clinch Heyward Belser Jr. of Columbia and Christopher Scott Belser of San Francisco; a stepson, Robert H. Burnside Jr., of Greenville; stepdaughters, Debra Burnside Rentz of Dahlonega, Ga., and Ashley F. Burnside of Columbia; a brother, Irvine F. Belser Jr. of Charleston; sisters, Mary Douglass, Margaret Hollis and Mildred Reid, all of Columbia, Anne Boas of Landrum, Harriet Deas of Sanford, Fla., Catherine Barnhart of Post Falls, Idaho; and eight grandchildren.
Dunbar Funeral Home, Gervais Street Chapel, is in charge. Memorials may be made to the S.C. Tennis Patron's Foundation, the Children's Hospital at Richland Memorial or the American Cancer Society.
State, The (Columbia, SC) - March 5, 1994
"Heyward came up in the Old South school, but he exemplified a lot more than the 'good ol' boy' connection; he was a scholar who contributed great service in the General Assembly," Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal said.
The former chairman of the state's House Judiciary Committee died Thursday after a lengthy battle with leukemia.
A son of the late Irvine Furman Belser and Mary Campbell Heyward Belser, he was 75.
As a law partner, Toal said, Belser was "a brilliant mentor . . . and integrity was his byword."
As a politician, it was Belser's work in helping revise the state's constitution that paved the way for today's restructuring, she said.
"Constitutional revision -- that was Heyward's baby as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Restructuring had its roots in the paradigm shift he led," she said.
A grandson of the late Duncan Clinch Heyward, governor of South Carolina from 1903 to 1907, Belser was also a gifted tennis player.
He played competitively all his life and was a member of the S.C. Tennis Hall of Fame with a string of titles in singles and doubles competition.
It was not uncommon to see him and his partners "going at it in a spirited match while wearing topcoats to ward off the winter weather," Herman Helms, former sports editor of The State, once wrote in a column about Belser.
The column appeared in 1984 after Belser had captured Columbia's senior tennis title -- a half-century after he had won the city's junior title.
Belser never had a tennis lesson, but he was "the number one tennis player in South Carolina in his age classification from age 16 through age 70," recalled tennis partner Bill DeLoache of Columbia.
Belser was educated in Columbia's public schools and graduated magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina. He also was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of USC's master's degree program and received his law degree from Yale University.
During World War II, Belser served as a pilot in the India-China-Burma theater and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After the war, Belser practiced law in New York and Washington, D.C., before returning to Columbia, where he later became a senior partner of Belser, Baker, Barwick, Ravenel, Toal & Bender.
A member of the county, state and national Bar associations, Belser served as a Richland County representative from 1958 to 1970. He also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 1970 and was a past chairman of the Richland County Election Commission.
Belser also was on the board of the Columbia Art Association and the Family Services Association and secretary of the Vestry of Trinity Cathedral. He was a 30-year member of the Civitan Club of Columbia and belonged to Forest Lake Club, Palmetto Club and Summit Club.
In 1985, Belser joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina and Companion Corp. as senior vice president and general counsel.
In 1943 he married Elizabeth Anne Albright of Columbia, who died in 1979. They had two sons. In 1984 he married Shelvie Culbreth Burnside of Columbia.
Services for Belser will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, with burial in Greenlawn Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 4 to 6 p.m. today at the residence, 501 Trenholm Rd.
Surviving are his wife; sons, Clinch Heyward Belser Jr. of Columbia and Christopher Scott Belser of San Francisco; a stepson, Robert H. Burnside Jr., of Greenville; stepdaughters, Debra Burnside Rentz of Dahlonega, Ga., and Ashley F. Burnside of Columbia; a brother, Irvine F. Belser Jr. of Charleston; sisters, Mary Douglass, Margaret Hollis and Mildred Reid, all of Columbia, Anne Boas of Landrum, Harriet Deas of Sanford, Fla., Catherine Barnhart of Post Falls, Idaho; and eight grandchildren.
Dunbar Funeral Home, Gervais Street Chapel, is in charge. Memorials may be made to the S.C. Tennis Patron's Foundation, the Children's Hospital at Richland Memorial or the American Cancer Society.
State, The (Columbia, SC) - March 5, 1994
Columbia attorney C. Heyward Belser was a brilliant scholar, a major figure in state politics and a World War II-trained leader who helped modernize state government, a former law partner said Friday.
"Heyward came up in the Old South school, but he exemplified a lot more than the 'good ol' boy' connection; he was a scholar who contributed great service in the General Assembly," Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal said.
The former chairman of the state's House Judiciary Committee died Thursday after a lengthy battle with leukemia.
A son of the late Irvine Furman Belser and Mary Campbell Heyward Belser, he was 75.
As a law partner, Toal said, Belser was "a brilliant mentor . . . and integrity was his byword."
As a politician, it was Belser's work in helping revise the state's constitution that paved the way for today's restructuring, she said.
"Constitutional revision -- that was Heyward's baby as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Restructuring had its roots in the paradigm shift he led," she said.
A grandson of the late Duncan Clinch Heyward, governor of South Carolina from 1903 to 1907, Belser was also a gifted tennis player.
He played competitively all his life and was a member of the S.C. Tennis Hall of Fame with a string of titles in singles and doubles competition.
It was not uncommon to see him and his partners "going at it in a spirited match while wearing topcoats to ward off the winter weather," Herman Helms, former sports editor of The State, once wrote in a column about Belser.
The column appeared in 1984 after Belser had captured Columbia's senior tennis title -- a half-century after he had won the city's junior title.
Belser never had a tennis lesson, but he was "the number one tennis player in South Carolina in his age classification from age 16 through age 70," recalled tennis partner Bill DeLoache of Columbia.
Belser was educated in Columbia's public schools and graduated magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina. He also was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of USC's master's degree program and received his law degree from Yale University.
During World War II, Belser served as a pilot in the India-China-Burma theater and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After the war, Belser practiced law in New York and Washington, D.C., before returning to Columbia, where he later became a senior partner of Belser, Baker, Barwick, Ravenel, Toal & Bender.
A member of the county, state and national Bar associations, Belser served as a Richland County representative from 1958 to 1970. He also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 1970 and was a past chairman of the Richland County Election Commission.
Belser also was on the board of the Columbia Art Association and the Family Services Association and secretary of the Vestry of Trinity Cathedral. He was a 30-year member of the Civitan Club of Columbia and belonged to Forest Lake Club, Palmetto Club and Summit Club.
In 1985, Belser joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina and Companion Corp. as senior vice president and general counsel.
In 1943 he married Elizabeth Anne Albright of Columbia, who died in 1979. They had two sons. In 1984 he married Shelvie Culbreth Burnside of Columbia.
Services for Belser will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, with burial in Greenlawn Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 4 to 6 p.m. today at the residence, 501 Trenholm Rd.
Surviving are his wife; sons, Clinch Heyward Belser Jr. of Columbia and Christopher Scott Belser of San Francisco; a stepson, Robert H. Burnside Jr., of Greenville; stepdaughters, Debra Burnside Rentz of Dahlonega, Ga., and Ashley F. Burnside of Columbia; a brother, Irvine F. Belser Jr. of Charleston; sisters, Mary Douglass, Margaret Hollis and Mildred Reid, all of Columbia, Anne Boas of Landrum, Harriet Deas of Sanford, Fla., Catherine Barnhart of Post Falls, Idaho; and eight grandchildren.
Dunbar Funeral Home, Gervais Street Chapel, is in charge. Memorials may be made to the S.C. Tennis Patron's Foundation, the Children's Hospital at Richland Memorial or the American Cancer Society.
State, The (Columbia, SC) - March 5, 1994
"Heyward came up in the Old South school, but he exemplified a lot more than the 'good ol' boy' connection; he was a scholar who contributed great service in the General Assembly," Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal said.
The former chairman of the state's House Judiciary Committee died Thursday after a lengthy battle with leukemia.
A son of the late Irvine Furman Belser and Mary Campbell Heyward Belser, he was 75.
As a law partner, Toal said, Belser was "a brilliant mentor . . . and integrity was his byword."
As a politician, it was Belser's work in helping revise the state's constitution that paved the way for today's restructuring, she said.
"Constitutional revision -- that was Heyward's baby as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Restructuring had its roots in the paradigm shift he led," she said.
A grandson of the late Duncan Clinch Heyward, governor of South Carolina from 1903 to 1907, Belser was also a gifted tennis player.
He played competitively all his life and was a member of the S.C. Tennis Hall of Fame with a string of titles in singles and doubles competition.
It was not uncommon to see him and his partners "going at it in a spirited match while wearing topcoats to ward off the winter weather," Herman Helms, former sports editor of The State, once wrote in a column about Belser.
The column appeared in 1984 after Belser had captured Columbia's senior tennis title -- a half-century after he had won the city's junior title.
Belser never had a tennis lesson, but he was "the number one tennis player in South Carolina in his age classification from age 16 through age 70," recalled tennis partner Bill DeLoache of Columbia.
Belser was educated in Columbia's public schools and graduated magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina. He also was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of USC's master's degree program and received his law degree from Yale University.
During World War II, Belser served as a pilot in the India-China-Burma theater and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After the war, Belser practiced law in New York and Washington, D.C., before returning to Columbia, where he later became a senior partner of Belser, Baker, Barwick, Ravenel, Toal & Bender.
A member of the county, state and national Bar associations, Belser served as a Richland County representative from 1958 to 1970. He also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 1970 and was a past chairman of the Richland County Election Commission.
Belser also was on the board of the Columbia Art Association and the Family Services Association and secretary of the Vestry of Trinity Cathedral. He was a 30-year member of the Civitan Club of Columbia and belonged to Forest Lake Club, Palmetto Club and Summit Club.
In 1985, Belser joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina and Companion Corp. as senior vice president and general counsel.
In 1943 he married Elizabeth Anne Albright of Columbia, who died in 1979. They had two sons. In 1984 he married Shelvie Culbreth Burnside of Columbia.
Services for Belser will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, with burial in Greenlawn Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 4 to 6 p.m. today at the residence, 501 Trenholm Rd.
Surviving are his wife; sons, Clinch Heyward Belser Jr. of Columbia and Christopher Scott Belser of San Francisco; a stepson, Robert H. Burnside Jr., of Greenville; stepdaughters, Debra Burnside Rentz of Dahlonega, Ga., and Ashley F. Burnside of Columbia; a brother, Irvine F. Belser Jr. of Charleston; sisters, Mary Douglass, Margaret Hollis and Mildred Reid, all of Columbia, Anne Boas of Landrum, Harriet Deas of Sanford, Fla., Catherine Barnhart of Post Falls, Idaho; and eight grandchildren.
Dunbar Funeral Home, Gervais Street Chapel, is in charge. Memorials may be made to the S.C. Tennis Patron's Foundation, the Children's Hospital at Richland Memorial or the American Cancer Society.
State, The (Columbia, SC) - March 5, 1994
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