Darla Moore of the Palmetto Institute and Robert Small of Dan River Mills

Editor's note: For a profile of the third 2007 S.C. Business Hall of Fame inductee,

architect Robert Mills, see The Columbia Star, April 6, 2007.

Star Profile

By John Temple Ligon

Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

One of this year's three inductees into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame, Lake City's Darla Moore has graced the cover of Fortune Magazine , identified as the "toughest babe in business." In 1998, she contributed $25 million to the business school's endowment at USC, and the school's name was changed to The Darla Moore School of Business. In 2004, she offered another $45 million in matching funds for the construction of a new business school building.

Until recently, the Moore School of Business building plans included both a complete renovation to the existing facilities and a new attached wing facing Pendleton Street. Now it appears the Moore School intends to move into two new buildings, separating the graduate program from the undergraduate.

The graduate building is reportedly locating in USC's Innovista, near a hotel. The Hilton under construction next to the convention center is a logical neighbor, especially when executive education comes into the conversation. Weekend programs run smoother with tight proximity between accommodations and the classrooms.

Moore's father was a farmer, mostly in the business of growing cotton, soybeans, and tobacco. Besides working the farm, her father was a school teacher, principal, and a coach. Her mother was from Missouri. Both parents were in attendance at last week's induction ceremonies, as was Moore's husband, Richard Rainwater.

At USC Moore earned her BA degree in political science in three years, taking her education to Washington to work in research for the Republican Party. She attended business school at George Washington University, graduating with an MBA in 1982.

Moore worked for Chemical Bank in New York, where she fine- tuned her command of debt financing and the business of bankruptcy. After a string of successes, Chemical Bank paid Moore a record amount, more than any woman in banking. She was promoted to the position of managing director at Chemical, and she accepted the same title for a shift to Manufacturers Hanover Bank.

In 2002, Moore founded the Palmetto Institute, a non- profit dedicated to increasing the income of every South Carolinian, mostly through radical upgrades in education.

Star Profile

By John Temple Ligon

Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Textile industrialist Robert Small was inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame May 24, 2007. His accomplishments were itemized for the audience and remembered by his sons Tex and Charles. Tex was widely quoted in a video presentation, and Charles was available to represent his father at the ceremonies.

Small was born in Charleston. His father was the president of the Bank of Charleston. Small's father was killed in an automobile accident when Small was 16, and Small had to drop out of high school and go to work as a teller in the bank. As a high school dropout, Small still managed to graduate from the College of Charleston in 1936.

A few years out of college, Small's bank transferred him to their Pickens office. Settled as a prominent banker in the Upstate, Small left banking for textile manufacturing.

Having started in banking, Small was suited to handle the financial part of most any manufacturing operation. Small and textile manufacturing manager Harry Haynsworth went into a business partnership to build and run a textile mill in Anderson, called the Haynsworth Mill. But when Haynsworth died before the mill opened, Small had to learn textile operations in a hurry.

Once he fell into textiles, he made a plaintive appointment to see Self of Greenwood Mills, according to Small's son Charles. Self had a life- long success in manufacturing textiles, and his advice was Small's start. Small arrived for the appointment early, waited beyond the appointed hour, and finally was ushered in the see the great textile magnate. Self said to Small, "Buy your cotton low, and sell your cloth high."

Haynsworth Mill was a success, and as such it sold to Woodside Mills, where Small eventually became president. Woodside was bought by Dan River Corporation of Virginia. Small's status as CEO of Dan River held till 1981. In 1980, Small was named Textile Industry Man of the Year.

At the College of Charleston, Small's contributions and fund raising efforts built the Robert S. Small Library. More fund raising by Small brought $4 million to SCETV.