Block, Upload, Automoderated users, edit, move, protect, rollback
57,799
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder | name=William Douglas "Bill" Workman, III | image=Bill Workman of SC.png | office=33rd Mayor of Greenville, South Carolina | term_start=June 1..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name=William Douglas "Bill" Workman, III
| image=Bill Workman of SC.png
| office=33rd [[Mayor]] of Greenville, [[South Carolina]]
| term_start=June 13, 1983
| term_end=December 11, 1995
| preceded=Harry B. Luthi
| succeeded=Knox H. White
| office2=President of the Municipal Association of South Carolina
| term_start2=1994
| term_end2=1995
| preceded2=Stephen M. Creech
| succeeded2=Lessie B. Price
| office3=At-large member of the Greenville City Council
| term_start3=1981
| term_end3=June 13, 1983
| preceded3=Clifford Gaddy, Jr.
| succeeded3=Knox H. White
| birth_date=July 3, 1940
| birth_place=[[Charleston]], South Carolina, USA
| death_date=May 12, 2019 (aged 78)
| death_place=Walterboro, South Carolina, USA
| resting_place=
| occupation=[[Business]]man
| party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
| spouse=(1) Marcia Moorehouse Workman<br>
(2) Patti Gage Fishburne Workman
| children =Two children<br>
Three step-children from second marriage
| parents=W. D., Jr. and Heber Rhea Thomas Workman
| alma_mater=[[The Citadel]]
| branch=[[United States Army]]
| rank=[[Lieutenant colonel]]
}}
'''William Douglas Workman, III''' (July 3, 1940 – May 12, 2019),<ref name=ourcampaigns/> was an [[United States|American]] [[business]]man and [[politician]] who served from 1983 to 1995 as the [[mayor]] of Greenville, [[South Carolina]].<ref name=archives>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517152315/http://www.greenvillesc.gov/CityClerk/Archives/Mayors.aspxhttp://www.greenvillesc.gov/CityClerk/Archives/Mayors.aspx|title=Historical Archives: Mayors and Intendants, with photos|publisher=City of Greenville, South Carolina|accessdate=October 23, 2020}}</ref>
His father, W. D. Workman Jr., was a journalist with ''The Charleston News and Courier''' and then editor of ''The Columbia State'', who ran for the [[United States Senate]] in 1962 and for [[governor]] of South Carolina in 1982, both times as a [[Republican Party|Republican]].
==Background==
Workman was born in [[Charleston]], South Carolina<ref name=scorg>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517115227/http://southerncarolina.org/news.asp?id=456http://southerncarolina.org/news.asp?id=456|title=Local Leaders Named S.C. Economic Ambassadors|date=May 17, 2014|publisher=web.archive.org|accessdate=October 23, 2020}}</ref> as an intelligence officer during [[World War II]]. His mother, the former Heber Rhea Thomas (1918–1988), a native of Walterboro, was the supervisor of recreation for the Walterboro [[Works Progress Administration]] servicemen's club. Called "Tommie" by her husband, whom she married in May 1939, and "Dimples" by her friends, Rhea Workman graduated from [[Winthrop College]] at age eighteen and went on to obtain her Doctorate from the [[University of South Carolina]]. She was a full Professor of [[English]] from 1957 to 1977 at Columbia College in the capital city of [[Columbia, South Carolina|Columbia]].<ref name=papers/> Her mother, Ruth Dorrill Thomas, Workman's grandmother, taught at Walterboro High School, where in 1935 launched the Future Teachers of America chapter at the school.<ref name=book>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jrMhp1Ie5XEC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Rhea+Workman+of+Walterboro,+SC&source=bl&ots=uBTS2yx1GZ&sig=gymGlVlZ8JPuLzRL5gzaTTnPpRY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QZtzU7itI4ycqAbasoHYBg&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Rhea%20Workman%20of%20Walterboro%2C%20SC&f=false|title=Sherry J. Cawley, Around Walterboro, South Carolina, p. 62|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year= 1998| ISBN=978-0-7385-6868-3|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> Workman has a sister, Dorrill "Dee" Workman Benedict of Greenville.<ref name=papers>{{cite web|url=http://library.sc.edu/socar/uscs/1995/workma95.html|title=William D. Workman Papers|publisher=library.sc.edu|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
Reared in Charleston and Columbia, Workman graduated in 1961 from [[The Citadel]] in Charleston, the [[alma mater]] of his grandfather, father and both of his sons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.sc.edu/scpc/Workman.pdf|title=William D. Workman, Jr.|publisher=library.sc.edu|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> Workman served two years active duty in the [[United States Army]], with subsequent Army Reserve Corps service, in which capacity he attained and retired with the rank of [[lieutenant colonel]].<ref name=scorg/> Like his father, he was a newspaper reporter for the ''Charleston News and Courier.'' He also worked for ''The Greenville News.'' He was, for a time, an educator and dean of Allied Health Sciences at Greenville Technical College. For six years, he was a member of the Greenville County School Board. He was among the founders of the South Carolina Literacy Association.<ref name=votesmart>{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/public-statement/29431/|title=Lindsey Graham, "Bill Workman"|date= February 2, 2004|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=October 23, 2020}}</ref>
Workman has been twice married. From his first union, to the former Marcia Moorhouse, he has two sons: William Workman, IV, and Frank Moorhouse Workman. From his second marriage to Patti Gage Fishburne (born 1942), who was formerly married to Donald K. Marks of Greenville,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intelius.com/results.php?ReportType=1&formname=name&qf=Donald&qmi=&qn=Marks&qcs=Greenville%2C+SC&focusfirst=1|title=Donald K. Marks|publisher=intelius.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> Workman gained three stepdaughters,<ref name=votesmart/> Gage Marks Beerer, Barnwell Johnson Marks, and Kemp Fishburne Marks.<ref name=mrsfishburne>{{cite web|url=http://www.singletonfamily.org/getperson.php?personID=I69785|title=Florence Barnwell Dargan Fishburne (1916-2008)|publisher=singletonfamily.org|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
Patti Gage Fishburne Workman, a native of Walterboro, graduated in 1960 from Walterboro High School,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thecolletonian.com/yes-you-can-go-home-again/|title=Yes, You Can Go Home Again!|publisher=The Colletonian|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> where Workman's grandmother had once been on the faculty.<ref name=book/>
==Political career==
From 1975 to 1978, Workman was the executive assistant to Governor [ames B. Edwards of Charleston, the first Republican chief executive in South Carolina since [[Reconstruction]]. As Edwards's assistant based in the capital city of Columbia, Workman was an alternate to the Appalachian Regional Commission. He became involved with planning and economic development issues. From 1972 to 1975, he was vice chairman and then chairman of the South Carolina Appalachian Health Council for which he worked to attract to South Carolina the growing number of federal categorical grant].<ref name=workmaniii/>
Workman was an at-large member of the Greenville City Council for two years preceding his tenure as mayor.<ref name=archives/> The 33rd mayor, he served for twelve and one-half years, in which capacity he refined his emphasis on economic and downtown development, the thrust of which dated back to 1971 to 1979 during the administration of the [[Democratic PartyDemocrat]] Mayor [[Max Heller]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.furman.edu/specialcollections/southcarolina/heller_biography.htm|title=Max Heller Biography|publisher=[[Furman University]]|accessdate=May 20, 2014}}</ref> In 2004, [[U.S. Senator]] [[Lindsey Graham]] acknowledged Workman's accomplishments in attracting new industries to his city and region: "There is no doubt Greenville is now one of the Southeast region's premier cities for business."<ref name=votesmart/> Workman faced the rapid decline of the [[textile mill]]s in western South Carolina, a loss which made economic development more difficult. Workman described economic development as a process which requires both diversification and specialization. Quoting the urban planner]] [[Jane Jacobs]]: "Poverty happens; prosperity, you have to work at it."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greenvillebusinessmag.com/View-Article/ArticleID/5331/Prosperity-Requires-Both-Diversification-and-Specialization.aspx|title=Prosperity Requires Both Diversification and Specialization, December 1, 2013|publisher=greenvillebusinessmag.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> In 1994, Mayor Workman was elected by his colleagues as president of the Municipal Association of South Carolina.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.masc.sc/about/Pages/PastPresidents.aspx|title=Past Presidents|publisher=Municipal Association of South Carolina|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
Involved in Republican politics, Mayor Workman in 1984 attended a [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]]-[[George H. W. Bush|Bush]] rally at Greenville Technical College.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=39247|title=Remarks at a Reagan-Bush Rally in Greenville, South Carolina|date=October 15, 1984|publisher=presidency.ucsb.edu|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> In 1986, Workman ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from South Carolina's 4th congressional district. The position was vacated by Carroll Ashmore Campbell, Jr. (1940-2005), a Republican who was elected governor in 1986, only the second Republican in the office in the 20th century. Workman defeated airline pilot Ted Adams in a runoff election for the Republican nomination, 8,453 votes (55.3 percent) to 6,829 (44.7 percent); in the [[primary]], however, Workman had polled 49.2 percent, nearly enough to win outright. Workman lost in the [[general election]] to sate Senator Liz Johnston Patterson, 67,012 votes (52.7 percent) to 61,648 (47.3 percent). Two minor candidates polled the remaining 1,747 votes (1.3 percent).<ref name=ourcampaigns>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=46247|title=SC - District 04|publisher=ourcampaigns.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> Patterson is the daughter of Olin DeWitt Johnston (1896-1965), the Democrat whom Workman's father had unsuccessfully challenged twenty-four years earlier in the 1962 race for the U. S. Senate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1986-06-24/news/8602070150_1_graddick-bill-baxley-runoff|title=Bitter Alabama Race Nears End|date=June 24, 1986; Article on Alabama campaigns with mention of Workman's congressional bid|publisher=''Fort Lauderdale ([[Florida]]) Sun-Sentinel''accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
In February 2004, Workman spoke in Orangeburg, South Carolina, to support downtown revitalization efforts there. He said that development depends on a mixture of "love, humility, and cooperation among all residents. ... Downtown is everybody's neighborhood."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-118756760.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629075641/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-118756760.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 29, 2014|title=Former Greenville, S.C., Mayor Praises Downtown-Revitalization Group, February 4, 2004|publisher=highbeam.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
In March 2004, Workman received the annual John D. Whisman Vision Award from the Development District Association of Appalachia at the annual conference of the organization held in Arlington, [[Virginia]]. The conference represented more than three hundred officials from seventy-two economic planning and development districts.<ref name=workmaniii>{{cite web|url=http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/001000/001688/unrestricted/20060280e.htm|title=William D. Workman, III, Receives John D. Whisman Vision Award, March 15, 2004|publisher=msa.maryland.gov|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
Beginning in 2004, the Greenville Area Development Commission, of which Workman was the first chairman, launched the presentation of its annual "William D. Workman, III, Buffalo Hunter Award", which honors either an individual or an organization that has demonstrated a major impact on the local economy. "Buffalo Hunter" refers to locating new businesses to Greenville.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gsabusiness.com/news/27810-gadc-reports-1-556-jobs-created-in-2008|title=GADC reports 1,556 jobs created in 2008|date=May 22, 2009|publisher=gsabusiness.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> He is a past president of the Greenville County Research and Technological Development Corporation.<ref name=votesmart/>
==Later years==
In 2004, Workman retired from the position of vice president of South Carolina district operations of the Piedmont Natural Gas Company but continued working as an economic development consultant.<ref name=votesmart/> Thereafter, he served as town manager of Bluffton, South Carolina.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517121449/http://www.cceainc.com/about-us|title=About Us|publisher=cceainc.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> He also headed the Colleton County Economic Alliance Board.<ref name=scorg/>
In 2014, Workman, by then retired in Walterboro summed up his business and political career as follows, "Economic development is what I have done for a living and for fun. ... Economic development is a high calling as far as I am concerned," upon receiving in Columbia the designation of "South Carolina Economic Ambassador".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://colletontoday.com/news/a-workman-like-effort-bill-workman-honored-as-s-c/article_1e3d463e-c57f-11e3-89aa-001a4bcf887a.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140514132825/http://colletontoday.com/news/a-workman-like-effort-bill-workman-honored-as-s-c/article_1e3d463e-c57f-11e3-89aa-001a4bcf887a.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 14, 2014|title=A WORKMAN-LIKE EFFORT: Bill Workman honored as S.C. Economic Ambassador|date=April 17, 2014|publisher=''Colleton Today''|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
Workman died on May 12, 2019, in Walterboro.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxcarolina.com/news/bill-workman-former-greenville-mayor-passes-away-at/article_f743572c-75ea-11e9-8769-7bbde6ee69c7.html|title=Bill Workman, former Greenville mayor, passes away at 78|author=Ella Wilkie|date = May 13, 2019|accessdate = May 14, 2019|publisher=WHNS}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Workman, Bill}}
[[Category:South Carolina]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[Category:Educators]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Mayors]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
| name=William Douglas "Bill" Workman, III
| image=Bill Workman of SC.png
| office=33rd [[Mayor]] of Greenville, [[South Carolina]]
| term_start=June 13, 1983
| term_end=December 11, 1995
| preceded=Harry B. Luthi
| succeeded=Knox H. White
| office2=President of the Municipal Association of South Carolina
| term_start2=1994
| term_end2=1995
| preceded2=Stephen M. Creech
| succeeded2=Lessie B. Price
| office3=At-large member of the Greenville City Council
| term_start3=1981
| term_end3=June 13, 1983
| preceded3=Clifford Gaddy, Jr.
| succeeded3=Knox H. White
| birth_date=July 3, 1940
| birth_place=[[Charleston]], South Carolina, USA
| death_date=May 12, 2019 (aged 78)
| death_place=Walterboro, South Carolina, USA
| resting_place=
| occupation=[[Business]]man
| party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
| spouse=(1) Marcia Moorehouse Workman<br>
(2) Patti Gage Fishburne Workman
| children =Two children<br>
Three step-children from second marriage
| parents=W. D., Jr. and Heber Rhea Thomas Workman
| alma_mater=[[The Citadel]]
| branch=[[United States Army]]
| rank=[[Lieutenant colonel]]
}}
'''William Douglas Workman, III''' (July 3, 1940 – May 12, 2019),<ref name=ourcampaigns/> was an [[United States|American]] [[business]]man and [[politician]] who served from 1983 to 1995 as the [[mayor]] of Greenville, [[South Carolina]].<ref name=archives>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517152315/http://www.greenvillesc.gov/CityClerk/Archives/Mayors.aspxhttp://www.greenvillesc.gov/CityClerk/Archives/Mayors.aspx|title=Historical Archives: Mayors and Intendants, with photos|publisher=City of Greenville, South Carolina|accessdate=October 23, 2020}}</ref>
His father, W. D. Workman Jr., was a journalist with ''The Charleston News and Courier''' and then editor of ''The Columbia State'', who ran for the [[United States Senate]] in 1962 and for [[governor]] of South Carolina in 1982, both times as a [[Republican Party|Republican]].
==Background==
Workman was born in [[Charleston]], South Carolina<ref name=scorg>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517115227/http://southerncarolina.org/news.asp?id=456http://southerncarolina.org/news.asp?id=456|title=Local Leaders Named S.C. Economic Ambassadors|date=May 17, 2014|publisher=web.archive.org|accessdate=October 23, 2020}}</ref> as an intelligence officer during [[World War II]]. His mother, the former Heber Rhea Thomas (1918–1988), a native of Walterboro, was the supervisor of recreation for the Walterboro [[Works Progress Administration]] servicemen's club. Called "Tommie" by her husband, whom she married in May 1939, and "Dimples" by her friends, Rhea Workman graduated from [[Winthrop College]] at age eighteen and went on to obtain her Doctorate from the [[University of South Carolina]]. She was a full Professor of [[English]] from 1957 to 1977 at Columbia College in the capital city of [[Columbia, South Carolina|Columbia]].<ref name=papers/> Her mother, Ruth Dorrill Thomas, Workman's grandmother, taught at Walterboro High School, where in 1935 launched the Future Teachers of America chapter at the school.<ref name=book>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jrMhp1Ie5XEC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Rhea+Workman+of+Walterboro,+SC&source=bl&ots=uBTS2yx1GZ&sig=gymGlVlZ8JPuLzRL5gzaTTnPpRY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QZtzU7itI4ycqAbasoHYBg&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Rhea%20Workman%20of%20Walterboro%2C%20SC&f=false|title=Sherry J. Cawley, Around Walterboro, South Carolina, p. 62|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year= 1998| ISBN=978-0-7385-6868-3|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> Workman has a sister, Dorrill "Dee" Workman Benedict of Greenville.<ref name=papers>{{cite web|url=http://library.sc.edu/socar/uscs/1995/workma95.html|title=William D. Workman Papers|publisher=library.sc.edu|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
Reared in Charleston and Columbia, Workman graduated in 1961 from [[The Citadel]] in Charleston, the [[alma mater]] of his grandfather, father and both of his sons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.sc.edu/scpc/Workman.pdf|title=William D. Workman, Jr.|publisher=library.sc.edu|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> Workman served two years active duty in the [[United States Army]], with subsequent Army Reserve Corps service, in which capacity he attained and retired with the rank of [[lieutenant colonel]].<ref name=scorg/> Like his father, he was a newspaper reporter for the ''Charleston News and Courier.'' He also worked for ''The Greenville News.'' He was, for a time, an educator and dean of Allied Health Sciences at Greenville Technical College. For six years, he was a member of the Greenville County School Board. He was among the founders of the South Carolina Literacy Association.<ref name=votesmart>{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/public-statement/29431/|title=Lindsey Graham, "Bill Workman"|date= February 2, 2004|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=October 23, 2020}}</ref>
Workman has been twice married. From his first union, to the former Marcia Moorhouse, he has two sons: William Workman, IV, and Frank Moorhouse Workman. From his second marriage to Patti Gage Fishburne (born 1942), who was formerly married to Donald K. Marks of Greenville,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intelius.com/results.php?ReportType=1&formname=name&qf=Donald&qmi=&qn=Marks&qcs=Greenville%2C+SC&focusfirst=1|title=Donald K. Marks|publisher=intelius.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> Workman gained three stepdaughters,<ref name=votesmart/> Gage Marks Beerer, Barnwell Johnson Marks, and Kemp Fishburne Marks.<ref name=mrsfishburne>{{cite web|url=http://www.singletonfamily.org/getperson.php?personID=I69785|title=Florence Barnwell Dargan Fishburne (1916-2008)|publisher=singletonfamily.org|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
Patti Gage Fishburne Workman, a native of Walterboro, graduated in 1960 from Walterboro High School,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thecolletonian.com/yes-you-can-go-home-again/|title=Yes, You Can Go Home Again!|publisher=The Colletonian|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> where Workman's grandmother had once been on the faculty.<ref name=book/>
==Political career==
From 1975 to 1978, Workman was the executive assistant to Governor [ames B. Edwards of Charleston, the first Republican chief executive in South Carolina since [[Reconstruction]]. As Edwards's assistant based in the capital city of Columbia, Workman was an alternate to the Appalachian Regional Commission. He became involved with planning and economic development issues. From 1972 to 1975, he was vice chairman and then chairman of the South Carolina Appalachian Health Council for which he worked to attract to South Carolina the growing number of federal categorical grant].<ref name=workmaniii/>
Workman was an at-large member of the Greenville City Council for two years preceding his tenure as mayor.<ref name=archives/> The 33rd mayor, he served for twelve and one-half years, in which capacity he refined his emphasis on economic and downtown development, the thrust of which dated back to 1971 to 1979 during the administration of the [[Democratic PartyDemocrat]] Mayor [[Max Heller]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.furman.edu/specialcollections/southcarolina/heller_biography.htm|title=Max Heller Biography|publisher=[[Furman University]]|accessdate=May 20, 2014}}</ref> In 2004, [[U.S. Senator]] [[Lindsey Graham]] acknowledged Workman's accomplishments in attracting new industries to his city and region: "There is no doubt Greenville is now one of the Southeast region's premier cities for business."<ref name=votesmart/> Workman faced the rapid decline of the [[textile mill]]s in western South Carolina, a loss which made economic development more difficult. Workman described economic development as a process which requires both diversification and specialization. Quoting the urban planner]] [[Jane Jacobs]]: "Poverty happens; prosperity, you have to work at it."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greenvillebusinessmag.com/View-Article/ArticleID/5331/Prosperity-Requires-Both-Diversification-and-Specialization.aspx|title=Prosperity Requires Both Diversification and Specialization, December 1, 2013|publisher=greenvillebusinessmag.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> In 1994, Mayor Workman was elected by his colleagues as president of the Municipal Association of South Carolina.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.masc.sc/about/Pages/PastPresidents.aspx|title=Past Presidents|publisher=Municipal Association of South Carolina|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
Involved in Republican politics, Mayor Workman in 1984 attended a [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]]-[[George H. W. Bush|Bush]] rally at Greenville Technical College.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=39247|title=Remarks at a Reagan-Bush Rally in Greenville, South Carolina|date=October 15, 1984|publisher=presidency.ucsb.edu|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> In 1986, Workman ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from South Carolina's 4th congressional district. The position was vacated by Carroll Ashmore Campbell, Jr. (1940-2005), a Republican who was elected governor in 1986, only the second Republican in the office in the 20th century. Workman defeated airline pilot Ted Adams in a runoff election for the Republican nomination, 8,453 votes (55.3 percent) to 6,829 (44.7 percent); in the [[primary]], however, Workman had polled 49.2 percent, nearly enough to win outright. Workman lost in the [[general election]] to sate Senator Liz Johnston Patterson, 67,012 votes (52.7 percent) to 61,648 (47.3 percent). Two minor candidates polled the remaining 1,747 votes (1.3 percent).<ref name=ourcampaigns>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=46247|title=SC - District 04|publisher=ourcampaigns.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> Patterson is the daughter of Olin DeWitt Johnston (1896-1965), the Democrat whom Workman's father had unsuccessfully challenged twenty-four years earlier in the 1962 race for the U. S. Senate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1986-06-24/news/8602070150_1_graddick-bill-baxley-runoff|title=Bitter Alabama Race Nears End|date=June 24, 1986; Article on Alabama campaigns with mention of Workman's congressional bid|publisher=''Fort Lauderdale ([[Florida]]) Sun-Sentinel''accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
In February 2004, Workman spoke in Orangeburg, South Carolina, to support downtown revitalization efforts there. He said that development depends on a mixture of "love, humility, and cooperation among all residents. ... Downtown is everybody's neighborhood."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-118756760.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629075641/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-118756760.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 29, 2014|title=Former Greenville, S.C., Mayor Praises Downtown-Revitalization Group, February 4, 2004|publisher=highbeam.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
In March 2004, Workman received the annual John D. Whisman Vision Award from the Development District Association of Appalachia at the annual conference of the organization held in Arlington, [[Virginia]]. The conference represented more than three hundred officials from seventy-two economic planning and development districts.<ref name=workmaniii>{{cite web|url=http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/001000/001688/unrestricted/20060280e.htm|title=William D. Workman, III, Receives John D. Whisman Vision Award, March 15, 2004|publisher=msa.maryland.gov|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
Beginning in 2004, the Greenville Area Development Commission, of which Workman was the first chairman, launched the presentation of its annual "William D. Workman, III, Buffalo Hunter Award", which honors either an individual or an organization that has demonstrated a major impact on the local economy. "Buffalo Hunter" refers to locating new businesses to Greenville.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gsabusiness.com/news/27810-gadc-reports-1-556-jobs-created-in-2008|title=GADC reports 1,556 jobs created in 2008|date=May 22, 2009|publisher=gsabusiness.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> He is a past president of the Greenville County Research and Technological Development Corporation.<ref name=votesmart/>
==Later years==
In 2004, Workman retired from the position of vice president of South Carolina district operations of the Piedmont Natural Gas Company but continued working as an economic development consultant.<ref name=votesmart/> Thereafter, he served as town manager of Bluffton, South Carolina.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517121449/http://www.cceainc.com/about-us|title=About Us|publisher=cceainc.com|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref> He also headed the Colleton County Economic Alliance Board.<ref name=scorg/>
In 2014, Workman, by then retired in Walterboro summed up his business and political career as follows, "Economic development is what I have done for a living and for fun. ... Economic development is a high calling as far as I am concerned," upon receiving in Columbia the designation of "South Carolina Economic Ambassador".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://colletontoday.com/news/a-workman-like-effort-bill-workman-honored-as-s-c/article_1e3d463e-c57f-11e3-89aa-001a4bcf887a.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140514132825/http://colletontoday.com/news/a-workman-like-effort-bill-workman-honored-as-s-c/article_1e3d463e-c57f-11e3-89aa-001a4bcf887a.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 14, 2014|title=A WORKMAN-LIKE EFFORT: Bill Workman honored as S.C. Economic Ambassador|date=April 17, 2014|publisher=''Colleton Today''|accessdate=May 14, 2014}}</ref>
Workman died on May 12, 2019, in Walterboro.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxcarolina.com/news/bill-workman-former-greenville-mayor-passes-away-at/article_f743572c-75ea-11e9-8769-7bbde6ee69c7.html|title=Bill Workman, former Greenville mayor, passes away at 78|author=Ella Wilkie|date = May 13, 2019|accessdate = May 14, 2019|publisher=WHNS}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Workman, Bill}}
[[Category:South Carolina]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[Category:Educators]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Mayors]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:United States Army]]