“B” is for Brown, William Melvin, Jr. (1934-1994)

“B” is for Brown, William Melvin, Jr. (1934-1994). Manufacturer. A native of Charleston, Brown was a graduate of South Carolina State College and later earned a master's degree from Atlanta University. In 1972 he created American Development Corporation (ADCOR,) the first minority-owned manufacturing plant in the Southeast. By the early 1990s ADCOR was realizing revenues of more than $30 million annually and employed 350 men and women. The manufacturing equipment and environmental testing facilities were geared mostly to sophisticated defense contracts. By the time of Brown's death, ADCOR was the largest minority-owned manufacturing company in the United States. William Melvin Brown, Jr., was the first African American named to the Palmetto Business Forum, the State's Ports Authority Board, the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame, and the South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper).