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Evander Roderick "Rick" McIver, Jr., age 92, of Jessamine Street, died Thursday, February 10, 2005. Mr. McIver was born at "Sahara Farm" in Darlington County on June 12, 1912, a son of the late E.R. and Miriam Todd McIver. He was educated in Charleston and Darlington County Schools and graduate from McClennagan High School in Florence in 1929. He finished Clemson in 1934 and worked for a time in the dairy and insurance businesses. In 1941 he married Mary Hart Dargan of Darlington. During the second world war, McIver was Captain in command of A Battery from Lancaster, SC. Assigned to the British Army in 1942 to study anti-aircraft guns, he went with that army to Africa in 1942 and rejoined the Americans when they arrived in 1943. Later in the war he trained troops at Ft. Eustis, VA, the Command and General Staff School at Ft. Leavenworth, KS and in Hawaii. Mr. McIver joined the S.C. National Guard at war's end commanding the 111th Battalion of the Guard in 1950. Later, he was president of the National South Carolina Guard Association. In 1946 McIver and Charles Shaw organized the McIver-Shaw Lumber Company of Conway. Mr. McIver was active in Kingston Presbyterian Church serving as deacon and an elder. In 1954 Mr. McIver was appointed by President Eisenhower as Chairman of the South Carolina Civil Rights Commission, agreeing to serve as Chairman Pro-Tem until a chairman could be found. He served as Pro-Tem Chairman for eight years, reappointed by President Kennedy. The Commission, which advised the Civil Rights Commission in Washington, D.C., was a bi-racial committee assigned to visit locales reporting racial discrimination. There was often such feeling in the communities against the commission that they had a hard time finding public places to meet and often met at the IRS headquarters in Columbia. Mr. McIver admitted he began this work as a segregationist, but when confronted with evidence that justice was not available to all South Carolinians, he changed his views. While his business dropped off during this period, he remained President of the Lions Club. Mr. McIver was president of the American Legion Post 111, President of the Tuberculosis Association, editor of the The Independent Republic Quarterly, served on the Horry County Farm Board, on the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Confederation of Local Historcial Societies sponsored by the Archives in Columbia. Mr. McIver was predeceased by his wife Mary Hart Dargan McIver. Surviving are two sons, E.R. McIver, III of Kalispell, Montana and Edwin Dargan McIver of Conway; six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Funeral services will be held 11:00 AM Saturday from Kingston Presbyterian Church with Rev. Don Stiens officiating. Burial will follow at 2:30 PM in Grove Hill Cemetery in Darlington, directed by Goldfinch Funeral Home, Conway Chapel. Memorials may be sent to Kingston Presbyterian Church, 800 3rd Avenue, Conway, SC 29526.

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Evander Roderick McIver, Jr

February 10, 2005