Memory Hold the Door

In 1958, the South Carolina Bar Association and the University of South Carolina School of Law faculty established “Memory Hold the Door,” to preserve for the inspiration of future generations the spirit and the high ethical and professional standards of past leaders of the legal profession. The School of Law displays “Memory Hold the Door” books in the library.  

2025 Honorees

About Memory Hold the Door

The South Carolina Bar Foundation makes an annual contribution to the law school’s MHTD Endowment Fund. The purpose of the funds is to promote, through the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law, the welfare of the legal profession by using the income for scholarships, lectures, and research.

The South Carolina Bar’s “Memory Hold the Door” Committee has charge of identifying and selecting individuals worthy of inclusion. The lawyers remembered, therefore, represent a true Honor Roll of the legal profession, selected by their fellow lawyers as best exemplifying the qualities of integrity, professionalism and skill required of the Bench and Bar.

Each year a “Memory Hold the Door” event is held at the USC Joseph F. Rice School of Law to recognize the new inductees and their friends and family members are invited to attend.

Endowment Memorials

The purpose of these memorials is to preserve, for the inspiration of future generations, the spirit, and high ethical and professional standards of past leaders of the legal profession by acclaiming their achievements and extolling their virtues. To this end, in 1958, the South Carolina Bar and the University of South Carolina School of Law faculty established the memorial repository “Memory Hold the Door.” The University of South Carolina provided a memorial book of finest quality and its handsome glass-topped mahogany repository. Memorial sketches of those selected to be memorialized are elegantly inscribed in the book. The custodian turns one page each day; thus, each sketch is displayed in rotation. The memorial sketches of past honorees are also available on the Internet at www.scbar.org/memory and www.law.sc.edu/memory.

The Endowment Fund

For each person memorialized, an endowment is contributed by the South Carolina Bar Foundation to the USC Educational Foundation. The Honor Roll of memorials is set out in this program. The purpose of the endowment is to promote, through the law school, the welfare of the legal profession by using the income for lectures, for research and for the development of the law school faculty. The South Carolina Bar’s Special Endowment Committee oversees memorial gifts, and each year it issues invitations for participation to families of those individuals it selects as worthy of inclusion in Memory Hold the Door. The attorneys remembered in Memory Hold the Door therefore represent a true honor roll of legal profession, selected by their fellow attorneys as best exemplifying the qualities of integrity, professionalism and skill required of the bench and bar.

2024 Memory Hold the Door Photos

MHTD Recommendations

If you are interested in recommending a deceased SC Bar member to be inducted into Memory Hold the Door, please forward a letter of recommendation and any supporting documentation to Tara G. Caine. The candidate must have been in good standing with the SC Bar and should be deceased at least 12 months since the last Committee meeting, which is typically in August. Please note that in previous years, there have been exceptions.