Charleston Currents – Charles Ravenel

BRACK: Remembering Pug Ravenel

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Pug Ravenel’s intensity on the football field – his zeal to be the best – stretched into the political arena years later when he inspired young men and women who wanted to change how politics worked in the state. His “reformer” spirit guided newcomers like Joe Riley, who became Charleston’s longtime mayor.

Ravenel, who later ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate against Strom Thurmond in 1978 and for Congress two years later, outlined a new path in politics in South Carolina. As one Facebook observer noted, “South Carolina lost so much for not electing him three times.”

We’ll miss Pug’s intensity, his piercing intellect, his openness to new things and his thoughtful energy fueled by ideas and common sense.

by Andy Brack · 03/27/2017 · 8 comments · Andy Brack, Views

HISTORY: Charles D. “Pug” Ravenel

S.C. Encyclopedia | Charles “Pug” Ravenel was born in Charleston on February 14, 1938, the son of Charles F. Ravenel and Yvonne Marie Michel. A football standout in high school in Charleston, he graduated from Bishop England (1956), Philips Exeter Academy (1957), Harvard University (1961), and Harvard Business School (M.B.A., 1964). He was first marshall (president) of Harvard’s graduating class and corecipient of the Bingham Award for most outstanding athlete. He worked on Wall Street from 1964 to 1972 and as a White House fellow at the U.S. Treasury Department (1966–1967). Ravenel returned to Charleston and established a merchant-banking firm. He married Mary Curtis on December 26, 1963. They have three children. Following a divorce, he married Susan Gibbes Woodward on November 30, 1991.