Strom Thurmond gave much of his money away

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But the longest-serving U.S. senator chose instead to give much of his money away.

He donated to his alma mater, Clemson University, and every other four-year college and technical college in South Carolina, including Greenville Tech, said Jim Jones, a Columbia accountant who was named the personal representative for Thurmond's estate.

Thurmond, once a teacher, coach and school superintendent, established the Strom Thurmond Foundation, which houses papers and memorabilia spanning his years of public service. He also set up a scholarship fund at Strom Thurmond High School in Johnston, which will receive his books.

His estate has been valued at $200,000, which Jones called an "arbitrary" number. It will be weeks before the full value is known and an inventory of Thurmond's property holdings is filed with the Probate Court in Aiken. Thurmond was born in nearby Edgefield in 1903. He died in June.

A Greenville News analysis of his financial disclosure statements filed with the U.S. Senate and interviews with those who knew him well show he lived his last years modestly.

In addition to his personal wealth, Thurmond raised and gave away millions of dollars, including excess campaign funds, said longtime friend Bettis Rainsford, an Edgefield developer.

At his 90th birthday party, Thurmond raised about $1 million that went to a variety of institutions, Rainsford said.

Thurmond gave away a third of the $2.32 million he collected in coasting to re-election in 1990, a study of congressional campaign spending practices showed. Thurmond used $733,000 to endow professorships and fund scholarships and spent less than $100,000 on campaign operations and another $211,000 for media advertising in that campaign, according to Congressional Quarterly Books.

"He was committed to the notion of helping young people, and that was a principal thrust of his objectives," Rainsford said. "His scholarship program was a major, major part of that."

Tom Barton, president of Greenville Tech, where a $5,000 annual scholarship is supported from funds donated by Thurmond, said Thurmond worked painstakingly to help others.

"With no reservation, that's what I saw," said Barton.

Thurmond's papers, medals and gifts that he received in Congress go to Clemson University's Strom Thurmond Institute, which was established in 1981. It is difficult to calculate Thurmond's net worth from public documents because the financial disclosure reports required of all members of Congress allow them to check broad ranges of income.

His last one — four pages dated Jan. 26 for the year 2002 — showed his assets totaling between $80,003 and $200,000 and liabilities of $300,002 to $600,000, according to the ranges of the report. It did not calculate his net worth.

Assets included an IRA with BB&T of South Carolina valued at between $15,001 and $50,000 that paid interest of $201 to $1,000. He also had a checking/savings account with Bank of America totaling between $15,001 and $50,000 that paid interest of less than $201.

Thurmond also reported an undivided interest in undeveloped land in Aiken valued at between $50,001 and $100,000.

His liabilities included two 7 percent, five-year mortgages for his wife, Nancy Moore Thurmond, who separated from her husband in 1990. One — a second mortgage to Commercial Bank in Thomasville, Ga. — amounted to between $50,001 and $100,000, and the other, to Thomasville (Ga.) Federal, was for between $250,001 and $500,000.

He reported a partnership he was involved in received $15,000 from a timber sale in Aiken.

Thurmond did not receive compensation of more than $5,000 from a single source other than his government salary in the past two years, the report said. Federal lawmakers last year earned $154,700.

According to his nine-page will, Thurmond's three surviving children will split equally any money in the estate once all bequests are paid.

His daughter, Julie Thurmond Whitmer, of Washington, D.C., is to receive $50,000, the largest cash bequest. The Thurmonds' oldest daughter, Nancy, was killed in an accident in 1993.

Strom Thurmond Jr., his oldest son and the U.S. attorney for South Carolina, was left half of the senator's clothing. The other half will go to his other son, Paul Thurmond, a Charleston prosecutor, who also was left all personal and household items in the late senator's Alexandria, Va., condominium.

Thurmond's widow was given $5,000 and forgiven any debts to her husband and will collect his pension payments from the Senate, Army and state government, according to the will. The will did not specify any debts, nor did it total the amount of retirement pay.