John K. Massey

John Kindred Massey was born June 14, 1914, in Marion, S.C., the son of Bernard W. and Maude Edwards Massey. He was educated in the public schools of Florence and was graduated from The Citadel with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1935. Massey was president of Massey and Company, Inc., a Conway wholesale grocery business, from 1941 until his retirement in 1974.

Massey was a member of the Horry County Higher Education Commission from 1964 through 1984. He was chair of the commission in 1968 and served as treasurer in 1974, 1977 and 1978. While a commission member and officer, Massey and Clay Brittain Jr., co-chaired a fundraising campaign to build a performing arts center at Coastal. On June 14, 1981, Wheelwright Auditorium was dedicated. The $3 million facility was funded almost entirely by private donations from local residents and businesses, including a gift of more than $1 million from the estate of William and L. Maud Kimbel.

The Horry County Higher Education Commission was created in 1959 as the agency to oversee the use of Coastal's tax millage from Horry County. When Massey became a commission member in 1965, the commission's millage-based budget was approximately $76,000 and in 1984, the budget grew to approximately $290,000.

Massey was a member of the board of directors of Conway National Bank, the Conway Lions Club and the Conway Chamber of Commerce.

Massey died in 2005.

Massey was named an honorary founder of Coastal Carolina University in 1994.