Former state Sen. Arthur Ravenel Jr. died Monday at age 95, his family said. He represented Charleston, Georgetown, and Horry counties in the state House from 1953 to 1958 and served as a state senator from 1981 to 1986.
From 1987 to 1995, Ravenel served as the United States Representative for South Carolina’s First Congressional District. He returned to Columbia in 1997, serving again as a state senator from 1997 to 2003.
Perhaps one of his greatest accomplishments was securing funding for the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge connecting Mount Pleasant and the Greater Charleston area.
In a 2015 interview with News 2, Ravenel said the reason he returned to the South Carolina Senate in 1997 was to “find the money for a bridge.”
Ravenel was born on March 29, 1927, in Charleston. He served in the U.S. from 1945 to 1946. Served in the Marine Corps, then graduated from the College of Charleston in 1950.
He and his first wife Louise Rodgers had six children: Suzanne C., Arthur III, Renee, Eva, William, and Thomas. In 1974, Ravenel remarried Jean Elliott Rickenbaker.
Ravenel’s youngest son Thomas Ravenel — best known for his role on the hit Bravo series Southern Charm — posted a tweet Monday confirming the news.
