03/30/19 DARLA MOORE: THE LADY IS A B-SCHOOL

DARLA MOORE: THE LADY IS A B-SCHOOL

NO ONE HAS EVER ACCUSED South Carolina of being home to progressive thought. The Confederate battle flag flies over its capitol. Its military school, The Citadel, fought to exclude women. And it has Strom Thurmond.
The image of the Palmetto State, though, may be changing, thanks to one of its illustrious--and wealthy--native daughters. On Mar. 27, the University of South Carolina, in Columbia, will become home to the first major U.S. business school named after a woman when it is christened the Darla Moore School of Business. Moore, a native of Lake City, S.C., and member of the undergrad class of '75, is donating a record $25 million to the B-school. The former banker is president of Rainwater Inc., an investment firm run by husband Richard Rainwater.
University President John Palms says naming the school for Moore is a step in the state's effort to be more progressive: ''This university has always been the index to the ambition of this state. To name a major business school for a woman is a big deal.''
Moore, who got her MBA from George Washington University, agrees. ''They didn't have to name the school after me. There were other alternatives,'' she says. ''But I think they wanted to make a quantum leap in the image they want to portray.''
Stephanie Anderson Forest
EDITED BY ROBERT McNATT & LARRY LIGHT