Florence businessman J. Erwin Paxton dies

FLORENCE — Florence lost a pillar of the community and a tireless advocate for positive change on Tuesday.

J. Erwin Paxton died Tuesday. Paxton was primary owner and operator of Horne Ford in Florence for 33 years. During his time at Horne, he was involved with the S.C. Automobile Dealers Association and served on many Ford committees including the National Dealer Council for Lincoln Mercury. He retired and sold the business in 2007.

Away from work, Paxton virtually touched all facets of the community, having served in the past as a member of several orgnization’s boards including the United Way, Florence-Darlington Technical College, McLeod Health and Florence Downtown Development Corp.

Paxton served on the Florence-Darlington Technical College Board of Trustees for 22 years and was instrumental in the college’s growth, Florence-Darlington Technical College President Dr. Charles Gould said.

“He was very much involved in the planning of the future of the college for two decades, and I think you can see the results and his hand in those,” Gould said.

“He was always curious about technology and what we could do to make things better. He was the type of board member every president would want to have. He’s going to be sorely, sorely missed.”

Paxton also contributed heavily to the vision of redevelopment in downtown Florence. He served on the Florence Downtown Development Corporation Board from its inception and was a champion of the effort, said George Jebaily, who works with the Downtown Development Corp.

“Erwin provided a steady, guiding hand that allowed the redevelopment effort to gain traction,” Jebaily said. “He had the unique, God-given of vision that very few people have. He could see what could be from what wasn’t there yet, and we were so blessed to have him be at the central core of our redevelopment effort. We’re all so much richer for having known him, and we will continue to benefit from the gifts and talents he brought to the table for a long, long time.”

Recently, Paxton shared a very personal connection with downtown, having exhibited his photos at the Art Trail Gallery downtown. Alex Palkovich, one of the gallery organizers, said Paxton took great pride in his work being displayed.

“He made many things in his life and did many things in the community, but this was very personal to him. It was his gift to the art world,” Palkovich said. “He was so proud and so happy that he could exhibit here. It was one of the highlights of his life.”