Governor awards Lane with Order of Palmetto for service

Hugh C. Lane Jr. has received South Carolina's highest civilian honor for service from Gov. Mark Sanford.

Wade Spees
The Post and Courier/File

Hugh C. Lane

"It was a huge surprise," Lane said of receiving the Order of the Palmetto at a Wetlands America Trust board meeting Saturday. "It's a wonderful honor, and I kind of felt overwhelmed by it."

The award was presented by Michael McShane, chairman of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources board and chairman of ACE Basin Task Force.

In a letter to Lane, Sanford thanks him for all he has "done to better our part of the world over the years," and notes the breadth of Lane's devotion to others.

Lane is a member of the Charleston County Greenbelt Bank board, a trustee of Wofford College, a member of the Trident Chamber of Commerce President's Roundtable, and a member of the loan committee and past chair of Council of Governments.

He has held leadership positions with Ashley Hall School, Belle W. Baruch Foundation, Charleston Museum, Trident Urban League, Drummond Center, Lowcountry Open Land Trust, Independent Colleges and Universities of SC, Roper Foundation, S.C. Chamber of Commerce, South Carolina Coastal Council, Trident United Way, MUSC's Health Sciences Foundation, Palmetto Project, Plantation Society and Southern Environmental Law Center.

He also organized a task force that worked to fund and enact the South Carolina Conservation Bank, the agency that buys land and conservation easements to block development.

"More than anything," Sanford writes, "we appreciate what you have done to preserve the ACE Basin for our children's children. As we both know, it's a special spot — and one that will, in large measure, stay that way because of your work."

Lane was a member of the original ACE Basin Task Force, which worked to promote easements in the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto river basins. Currently about 200,000 acres are protected.

The downtown resident is president of The Bank of South Carolina, a position he has held since 1986.

Lane's brother, Charles Lane, and late father, Hugh Lane Sr., previously received the Order of the Palmetto.

Reach Kristen Hankla at 937-5548 or khankla@postandcourier.com.