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Late C. Dan Joyner first recipient of Riley Medal


Last updated May 1, 2012

By News administrator

by Vince Moore, Director of News and Media Relations

The Furman University Board of Trustees has announced that the late C. Dan Joyner of Greenville is the first recipient of the newly created Richard W. Riley Medal for Promise and Achievement.

The award will be presented at Furman’s commencement exercises Saturday, May 5.  Members of the Joyner family will accept the award.

At its spring meeting April 20-21, the Furman trustees voted unanimously to establish the medal and name Joyner, a 1959 Furman graduate, as its first recipient.  The nomination of Joyner was made by trustee William Howes, a classmate and lifelong friend of Joyner’s.

The medal is named for Richard W. Riley, a 1954 Furman graduate who will complete his term as chair of the university’s Board of Trustees on June 30.  Riley served as U. S. Secretary of Education under President Bill Clinton (1993-2001) and was elected to two terms as Governor of South Carolina (1979-1987).  In 2008, he was named one of the Top 10 Cabinet Members in U.S. history by Time magazine.

Joyner, a successful Greenville businessman who was chairman and CEO of Prudential C. Dan Joyner Co., died in January 2012.

A former Furman trustee, Joyner was one of Furman’s most ardent supporters.  He served as vice chair of the trustees’ Athletics Committee and was president of the Paladin Club for three years.  The C. Dan Joyner ’59 Family Athletic Scholarship is awarded annually to a Furman student-athlete with financial need. In 1986 he was elected to the Furman Athletic Hall of Fame, and he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Southern Conference in 2007-08.

Joyner also served as president of the Furman Alumni Association and was a member of the Planned Giving Advisory Council, Heritage Society and Richard Furman Society. The porch at the David E. Shi Center for Sustainability at Furman is named in honor of Joyner and his wife, Katherine Poole Joyner ’60. Furman presented him its Alumni Service Award in 1967.

For more information, contact Furman’s News and Media Relations office at 864-294-3107.

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