[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 12, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO JOHN W. GADSON, SR.

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 12, 2002

  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to John W. 
Gadson, Sr. of South Carolina, who is retiring as Director of the Small 
Business Development Center at South Carolina State University in 
Orangeburg, South Carolina. Mr. Gadson's long and impressive career 
spans over forty-seven years and includes many outstanding 
accomplishments.
  Mr. Gadson began his career in 1953, when he joined the United States 
Army. After serving three years, he was discharged as a Sergeant, and 
in 1956, enrolled at Clafin College in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Mr. 
Gadson received a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry Education from South 
Carolina State College in 1960. He later received a Master's degree in 
Science Education from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
  His desire to help others lead him to a teaching career. His first 
teaching job was at Robert Smalls High School in Beaufort, South 
Carolina. In 1969, he left the classroom to serve as Director of the 
Beaufort-Jasper Neighborhood Youth Corps Project. This program, which 
offered work experience and training, was funded by the United States 
Department of Labor. It allowed Mr. Gadson to demonstrate his 
administrative skills and management abilities.
  The Directorate of Penn Community Services, Inc., located on St. 
Helena Island, South Carolina, took note of Mr. Gadson's skills and 
hired him to direct its programs. The historic center served as a 
critical educational and community development site during the civil 
rights activities of the 1960's and often hosted Martin Luther King, 
Jr. and the SCLC staffers.
  Included among his many achievements at Peen Center was the 
establishment of the first Minority Business Development Center in 
South Carolina in 1972, through the U.S. Department of Commerce Office 
of Minority Business Enterprise. The center provided numerous services 
to more than 140 blacks seeking to become entrepreneurs. That same 
year, he established the Penn Center Black Land Services, Inc.
  Mr. Gadson left Penn Center in 1976 to work as a Ford Foundation 
Fellow at the State Reorganization Commission and later as a Research 
Assistant and Research Director on the Commission's staff. One of his 
projects resulted in passage of the new state procurement code, which 
laid the foundation for the State of South Carolina's increases in the 
amount of funds spent with minority-owned businesses. Mr. Gadson also 
served as a member of the Governor's Senior Advisory Team. In 1986, Mr. 
Gadson was awarded the Order of Palmetto, which is the highest honor 
that the Governor can give a citizen of the state.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in honoring 
John W. Gadson, Sr. for the incredible service he has provided to the 
students of South Carolina State University and the citizens of South 
Carolina.

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