the position of President Pro Tempore, a position he held along with the chairmanship of the finance committee for thirty years. Upon the death of Senator Burnet R. Maybank in 1954, the executive committee of the state Democratic Party chose him as their nominee for the general election. The absence of a primary election caused an uproar in the state and Strom Thurmond defeated Brown as a write-in candidate. Brown retired from the state Senate on July 28, 1972. During Brown's legislative service, he was known for conservative fiscal policies, financing the state road system with gasoline tax revenue bonds, and improving education in the state as well as implementing the South Carolina Educational Television. SCETV station WEBA-TV (channel 14), which is licensed to Allendale and covers Barnwell County, was named in honor of Brown upon its sign-on in 1967. Personal life His parents, Augustus Brown and Elizabeth Howard were married on March 29, 1875, and settled on a part of the Brown family farm, which Needham [Gus's father] had given to them. Brown had four siblings; Minnie, John (who died at sixteen), Lula, and Grover. Brown married Annie Love Sitgreaves, daughter of Edwin McBurney and Centellia Martin Sitgreaves, on December 30, 1913 and together they had one child, Emily McBurney Brown. Brown was also survived by a grandson, Richard Allan Jefferies, and a granddaughter, Emily McBurney Jefferies. His son-in-law Richard Manning Jefferies, Jr. (son of Governor Richard Manning Jefferies) served as chairman of SCETV. He died after suffering injuries in an automobile accident. Brown served as a trustee of Clemson University. The University Union was renamed in his honor after his 1975 death. References External links Statehouse Biography of Edgar Allan Brown USC Biography of Edgar Allan Brown Edgar Allan Brown Papers at Clemson University's Special Collections Library 1888 births 1975 deaths People from Barnwell County, South Carolina Democratic Party members of the South Carolina House of Representatives Democratic Party South Carolina state senators Clemson University trustees 20th-century American politicians People from Aiken County, South Carolina 20th-century American academics