Rebecca Randall Bryan

Rebecca Randall Bryan of Conway was a Coastal benefactor and a longtime supporter of the university's arts and humanities programs. An avid painter, she was devoted to the arts and attended many classes offered through Coastal's Division of Extended Learning and Public Services. Bryan traveled to Oxford University in England as part of a travel-study program offered through Coastal's Office of International Programs. She also donated more than 200 books from her personal library to Coastal's Kimbel Library.

She died Sept. 25, 1999. In her will, Bryan directed that Coastal receive a significant portion of her estate for building projects relating to the university's humanities programs. Her $1.8 million bequest represented the largest single cash gift ever made to Coastal Carolina University.

The Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery in the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts was formally dedicated in 2001. The gallery the primary visual laboratory for the Department of Visual Arts and is free and open to the public. The extension of Coastal's Kimbel Library also bears the family name – Bryan Information Commons – which opened in 2012.

Bryan was employed by Conway National Bank for 30 years. She was a charter member of the Horry County Historical Society and bequeathed her home in Conway to the organization.

She was named an honorary founder of Coastal Carolina University in 2001.