Warren Lasch was standing graveside as the final crew of the H.L. Hunley was buried last April when the inevitable thought occurred to him: his mission, like theirs, was over.

After more than seven years at the helm, Lasch resigned last week as chairman of Friends of the Hunley. Although the Charleston businessman has long considered the Civil War submarine his own baby, he says there is little left for him to do for the project. The Hunley has been recovered and excavated, its crew laid to rest. Within a few years, it will be in a North Charleston museum.

"It's tough, but it's time," Lasch says. "I've completed my mission."

The vital statistics of the $9 million Hunley project under Lasch speak for themselves: The sub has been recovered and is on course for conservation damage-free, without injury, on time, under budget and -- now -- debt-free.

"The Hunley wouldn't be there if it wasn't for Warren," says Clive Cussler, the novelist who led the expedition that found the sub in 1995 and a member of the Friends of the Hunley board. "He has done a magnificent job, put a lot of time and money into the project and never asked for one cent."

Since 1997, when Sen. Glenn McConnell asked Lasch to lead the nonprofit with a promise that it would take "no more than 10 hours every other week," the Ohio-born entrepreneur has spent more time overseeing the Hunley project than his various trucking and medical industry businesses. He has donated office space, employee time and, often, written the checks out of his own pocket.

In the early days, when expenses piled up more quickly than the obscure project could raise money, Lasch guaranteed more than $2 million in loans, then set out to raise money to pay for the project with donations.

Today, 75 cents of every dollar spent on the sub comes from private sources, most of the rest from federal funds. Tours of the submarine are run by volunteers. Lasch credits the volunteers for much of the project's success. He says that, for the Hunley, everything has gone better than anyone could have imagined.

"How many projects can make those claims?" he says. "This has been aonce-in-a-lifetime project, and I'm just happy to have been involved."

Lasch has gathered accolades from the U.S. Navy and national safety organizations for his management of the project. For his trouble, Lasch has been a lightning rod for criticism surrounding the Hunley. For years, Friends of the Hunley has suffered through lawsuits about its nonprofit status, and business competitors have used the high-profile project to attack Lasch personally.

"He has taken undeserved hits along the way," McConnell, chairman of the state Hunley Commission, says. "The people of this community need to know that he has generously given to a project that this state chose to take on. Without Warren, we would not have been able to raise the Hunley. That's what his unselfish commitment to the project has meant."

When Lasch agreed to take the reins at Friends of the Hunley, he didn't even know what a "Hunley" was; he says he did it to give back to the community. He also had no idea how to run a charity organization.

"There's no road map for doing this; each of these projects take on a personality of their own," Lasch says. "I can remember sleepless nights thinking, 'I'm in over my head.' But we got it done by focusing on the mission. That takes discipline."

Lasch takes with him memories he'll carry forever: the moment the Hunley broke the surface on Aug. 8, 2000, and the funeral for the eight Hunley crewmen on April 17, 2004. As that ceremony ended, Lasch stood in Magnolia Cemetery with family members of the crew and accepted the flag that had been draped on one of the caskets.

A more lasting monument to his tenure is the Hunley lab, officially named the Warren Lasch Conservation Center. The lab gets good marks from the scientific community, and there is little doubt it will remain a player in historic preservation for years to come.

"My hope would be that 100 years from now it will still be saving and preserving history," Lasch says.

McConnell says the next step for the Friends is unclear; whether there will be a new chairman, or some sort of reorganization. Lasch, he says, is a tough act to follow.

"He's leaving us in such good shape we'll be able to complete the journey," McConnell says. "And I've made him promise to be there when the Hunley makes that trip from the lab to its final home. He is a member of the Hunley's fourth crew, and that's the highest honor I can give anyone."