Former Senator McLeod leaves a legacy

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By VICKI BROWN

Colleton County and the State of South Carolina lost a devoted servant, leader and friend as former S.C. Sen. Peden McLeod, 81 was laid to rest on Tuesday, January 4.

Funeral services were held at Bethel United Methodist Church, and the former senator was interred at Live Oak Cemetery in Walterboro.

McLeod’s long and distinguished resume of service began more than 50 years ago and continued throughout his lifetime.

On July 7, 1962, he married his wife, Mary Waite Hamrick, and served active duty in the U.S. Army from 1962 to 1964, stationed at Fort Holabird, MD, and Fort Bragg, NC.

He attended Wofford College in 1962 where he served as the president of several organizations. He was the Junior Class president and Senior Class president. He went on to the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1967, where he graduated third in his class. While there, he served as Phi Delta Phi President, was a member of the Society of Wig and Robe and was a member of the Editorial Board for the University of South Carolina Law Review.

McLeod passed the bar and went to work at McLeod, Fraser & Cone Law Firm.

In 1988, he founded the Bank of Walterboro, now the Bank of the Lowcountry, and served as its board chairman and chief executive officer.

McLeod was a permanent member of the United States Fourth Judicial Circuit Conference, was a member of the House of Delegates for the South Carolina Bar from 1975 to 1983, and served as a member of the Walterboro City Council from 1970 to 1972.

In his list of other community contributions, McLeod served as commander of Post 93 of the American Legion from 1971 to 1972; as district chairman of the Boy Scouts of America from 1967 to 1971; as a South Carolina Bar Member, House of Delegates, 1975-1983; as a member of the Colleton County Bar Association; as a member of the American Bar Association; Member SC Commission on the Future; as a member of Omar and Coastal Shrine Scottish Rite of Freemasonry; as a member of the Lions Club; as a member of Walterboro Elks Lodge Unity Lodge #55 AFM; and as a Captain in the United States Army Reserves from 1962-1973;.

McLeod also had a distinguished career in the General Assembly. Elected to the House of Representatives in 1972 from Colleton County, he served as assistant majority leader from 1977 to 1979; was chairman of the Joint Appropriations Review Committee from 1978 to 1979; was elected to the Senate in 1979; became chairman of the Senate Medical Affairs Committee; and remained in the Senate until Oct. 1, 1990, when he became code commissioner and director of the Legislative Council, a position he held until Feb. 16, 1998.

In the latter capacity, he was a commissioner of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and served as a lifetime member, the secretary of the Judicial Council of the State of South Carolina, and a commissioner of the Constitutional Ballot Commission.

He was awarded the Order of the Palmetto, the highest civilian honor which recognizes a lifetime of extraordinary achievement, service and contributions nationally or statewide, by former Governor David Beasley in 1998.

The South Carolina General Assembly passed a resolution in May 2020 to honor McLeod at the request of the Department of Transportation by naming the bridge that crosses the Edisto River along U.S. Highway 17 in Colleton County the “Senator Peden McLeod Bridge.” Dignitaries from across the state of South Carolina were present for the event. The resolution reads, “It would be fitting and proper to further recognize the good works of this son of South Carolina by having a bridge in his beloved Colleton County named in his honor.”

At his dedication ceremony, McLeod graciously accepted the highway sign and framed resolution, and remarked, “I am grateful to the people who elected me and gave me the opportunity to serve them. I always believed that I should always do what was right and never give up,” said McLeod.

“I am very proud of my record of service. I gave a lot of time and effort to Colleton. I could not have done any of this without my family.”