William Harvey Hunter

Dr. William H. Hunter
Clemson, SC

William Harvey Hunter, MD, 84, of 249 Pendleton Road, died Monday, April 14, 2008 at AnMed Health Center, Anderson, SC.

Born in Anderson, SC, a son of the late Samuel Eugene and Ruth McCarrell Hunter, Dr. William Harvey Hunter was born in Anderson, South Carolina and attended school there through junior high. He graduated from Greenville High School in 1941, where he was a member of the All-State Football team, track team, member of the Debating Club, Member of Student Council and President of the Hi-Y Club.

He attended Clemson College on an athletic scholarship. Here he was an officer of the Calhoun Forensic Society and lettered in Football, Track, and Boxing where he was a finalist in the conference tournament in 1947. He has been named Distinguished Alumni of Clemson University.

During World War II he served as a carrier fighter pilot and Marine Corps Officer in the Black Sheep Squadron. During this time he also acted as Air Group Intelligence Officer.

He was a graduate of the Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston and was named Distinguished Alumni of that school for his long time and extensive work in medical education. He served on the MUSC Foundation, as an Advisor to the Department of Medicine, and was on their Alumni Council. He has done the family practice of medicine in the Clemson community since 1953.

Dr. Hunter served as President of the Anderson County Medical Society, Speaker of the House of Delegates of the South Carolina Medical Association for four years and President of the South Carolina Medical Association. He has been a Director of the National Academy of Family Practice and their Washington Consultant. Formerly he was South Carolina Chairman of Physicians Continuing Education for four years. Following this he was on the National Advisory Council for Health Professions Education at the National Institutes of Health where he was instrumental in acquiring funds for Family Practice Residency Programs over the nation including those at the Anderson and Greenville Hospitals. In 1998 he was given the "Public Service Award" from the Medical Economics Magazine in their 75th Anniversary issue. His writings have been published nationwide. He has served on the Editorial Board of American Family Physician, MD Magazine, and the Journal of the South Carolina Medical Association.

In 1962, he along with Drake Edens, Arthur Ravenel, and Tom Roe were known as the "Four Horseman" who traveled across South Carolina and organized what was to become the modern day Republican Party. He has served many positions in the South Carolina Republican Party, from Precinct President, to County Chairman, to District Chairman, to State Secretary, and as a National Delegate. He has addressed the GOP National Platform Committee several times on behalf of American Medicine. He was South Carolina Finance Chairman of Physicians for Reagan-Bush. In 1996 he was South Carolina Chairman for Senator Richard Lugar for President.

He has served in the past on the Board of Stewards of the Clemson United Methodist Church. He has served his church as a Certified Methodist Lay Speaker and long time Sunday School Teacher. He also teaches Sunday School on the fifth Sunday's at Anderson's First Baptist Church.

He was still active in his medical practice, wrote a Sunday newspaper column for the Anderson Independent-Mail, was on the Advisory Council of the Child Development Center of the Greenville Hospital System, was on the Professional Review Panel of the National Foundation for Autistic Research, and a member of the Medical University's Alumni Council. He was on Clemson University's Advisory Council to the Calhoun Honors College and the Advisory Council of the Child Development Program of the Greenville Hospital. He was chairman of the Founders of the Calhoun Lecture Series at the Strom Thurmond Institute, Clemson University where he was honored by having an Endowment awarded in his name.

Surviving are his wife of over 64 years, Jane Minter Gardner; sons, John Mark McCarrell Hunter and wife, Mellisa, of Clarksville, TN, James Madison Hunter of Chapel Hill, NC, William Harvey Hunter, Jr. and wife, Nore, of Arden, NC, and Samuel Eugene Hunter of Santa Rosa, CA; daughter, Gwin Hunter Hanahan and husband, Dr. Jim Hanahan, of Seneca, SC; Grandchildren, Jane Hanahan Swing and husband, Dale, J. Ross Hanahan III and wife Anna, Carson Gaillard Hanahan, W. Hunter Hanahan, William Harvey Hunter, III, Trevor C. Hunter, James Patrick Hunter, Julia Scott Hunter, Victoria Grace Hunter, and John Mark Davis Hunter; and one great-grandson, James Ross Hanahan, IV. Isabelle B. Kay has been associated with and close to Dr. Hunter's family for 55 years.

Memorial Services will be 10:30 AM, Thursday at Clemson United Methodist Church.

Visitation, 6 to 8 PM, Wednesday at Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home, Central-Clemson Commons.

Memorials may be made to the Clemson United Methodist Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 590, Clemson, SC 29633 or to the William H. Hunter Endowed Lecture, Clemson University, P.O. Box 1889, Clemson, SC 29633.