In the spring of 1966, I left my job as security director at the Weapons Station and Polaris Base in Goose Creek, SC, and joined the war on poverty as the founding director of the South Carolina Commission for Farm Workers, (an organization Congressman James Clyburn would ultimately head.) Nine months later I decided to return to work for the Navy. It was one of the better decisions in my working lifetime.
I went to the Naval Supply Systems Command Center at the base in Charleston to interview for the job as the first civilian security director in the NSSC. This position had always been filled by a military officer, but a couple of years earlier a major theft had occurred in Charleston. During the subsequent Inspector General post mortem of the case I had served as an independent unofficial adviser to the Marine Colonel who was on the IG team. I argued that the most effective security demanded a long term commitment and memory that would come from a civilian security professional in the job and not through Naval officers who rotated every 24 or 30 months. The Center was charged with two-ocean support of the Polaris/Poseidon program which in the 1960s was extremely vital to the security of the nation. If material could be stolen, classified equipment and information was also at risk.
Captain Ted Stern had been sent to Charleston to take charge of the Center and get the “ship righted.” He bought into the civilian security director argument. When I interviewed for the job it was a meeting of minds and I went to work in January 1967, During the next two years I learned more and better management techniques and people skills from Ted Stern than any other superior or mentor in my entire life. Ted had outstanding abilities and demonstrated performance; in many ways he was clearly ahead of his time.
The Navy passed Captain Stern over for Admiral. Not since the days of President Kennedy, eight years earlier, had the Navy made anyone an admiral who was over 49 years of age. When Stern’s number came up he was almost 54.
Captain Stern, facing retirement, confided in me about two job opportunities he had: Assistant Comptroller General of the United States and President of the College of Charleston. There was no doubt in my mind which he would take. Ted Stern was not interested in being anyone’s assistant.
He changed forever the College of Charleston. He took the college into the state system of higher education, expanded faculty and course offerings and in general became a leading equal opportunity educator in the Southeast. Along the way he became a powerful and dedicated citizen of Charleston. He helped to salvage Spoleto when it was rocking on its heels.
Many years later Governor Richard Riley had a reception for Ted Stern in the mansion in Columbia. I was a member of the House of Representatives and when I reached Ted and Governor Riley in the receiving line, Ted and I embraced each other and enjoyed a happy reunion of former co-workers and friends. Friendship was one of Ted Stern’s strong attributes. After he left the College of Charleston, Ted moved to the North Carolina mountains. When he visited Charleston he regularly stopped by to see his former executive officer, Captain Vern Rivers who had come down with a life-ending illness. After his naval service Vern worked with Ted at the College of Charleston.
Now Ted is 100 years old. The Navy, College of Charleston, city of Charleston and the country are better places for his having moved among them. As am I for having known and worked with this outstanding, imaginative and bold leader. He is expected to be at the College on Wednesday, November 14, from 11 to 12 in the Stern Center.
(The entire blog is here.)
