Force behind Columbia’s arts and parks, dies at 92. Her foundation gave millions
March 9 is Susan Boyd Day in Columbia – proclaimed as such in 2022 by the City of Columbia to honor Boyd’s generous spirit and decades-long impact on the shape of the city through her and her husband’s charitable foundation.
Susan Fair Boyd, the matriarch of the Darnall W. and Susan F. Boyd Foundation, died Nov. 8. She was 92 years old. She and Darnall were married for 62 years, until Darnall died in 2015 at the age of 88 years old.
She is remembered by those who knew her as a visionary, as someone with energy and wit, and as an uncompromising champion of Columbia and its future. In 2022, she was given a key to the city of Columbia for her work.
“She had a great sense of humor and sort of a twinkle in her eye,” said Mike Dawson, executive director of The River Alliance, a nonprofit promoting better access to Columbia’s three rivers.
Dawson worked with Susan and her husband, Darnall “Donny” Boyd on the development of The Sanctuary at Boyd Island, a natural respite with a loop trail on an island at the confluence of Columbia’s three strong rivers – accessible to the public thanks to the contributions from the Boyd Foundation.
That effort began in 2010 on a canoe helmed by Dawson.
“Donny was an Eagle Scout, and Susan had been in the outdoors her whole life, so they were all for this,” Dawson recalled. He remembers taking the Boyds to the island that would later bear their name. The couple, never afraid to roll their sleeves up on a new project, were taken with the island and wanted others to be as well.
“Her goal was to have people really enjoy the natural world,” Dawson said.
In an interview with South Carolina PBS years later, Boyd herself recalled wading through the water, envisioning what would eventually become Boyd Island.
“Nothing had been done about getting to (the island), so when we first came over we had to walk through the water, which came up a little above my knees,” she told SCETV in 2021.
The Boyd Foundation gave close to $1.3 million to see the island become traversable to the public.
By the end of this year, The Boyd Foundation will have given $56 million to support an almost countless array of programs in and around Columbia. The foundation is responsible for Boyd Plaza, which welcomes visitors into the Columbia Museum of Art. It’s responsible for the new Darnall W. and Susan F. Boyd Aquarium and Reptile Conservation Center at the Riverbanks Zoo. The foundation has given scholarships for college students, built a new facility at the Sandhills School for dyslexia, and presently is developing a pedestrian bridge across the Broad River and a waterfront park in downtown Columbia.
Darnall Boyd acquired his wealth as a real estate developer and later established the Boyd Foundation to promote Columbia’s natural resources, and to enhance the public’s access to them.
“A lot of the projects that we have undertaken were really originated with her,” said George Bailey, president of The Boyd Foundation. “She was a determined woman who had a tremendous variety of experiences and interests.”
John Sherrer, director of preservation at Historic Columbia, said he too noticed a “sparkle in her eye,” particularly when Susan was speaking about something she was passionate about, “it was also something that would get a little brighter when you said something that inspired her.”
And so many things did inspire her. She was an avid gardener and became involved in a garden restoration project at Historic Columbia that eventually led to the construction of the Boyd Foundation Horticultural Center on the northwest portion of the historic Hampton-Preston Mansion property.
The Boyd Foundation helped renovate the mansion, which was once owned by a wealthy slave owner. In 2012, the foundation paid for the restoration of the mansion’s main entrance, and then in 2017 spurred by Susan’s love of gardening, the foundation paid for the restoration of the gardens on the Mansion’s north end.
In total, the foundation gave close to $4 million to various projects at the mansion property.
“You just can’t overstate the commitment and the interest that she had for our endeavors,” Sherrer said.
Susan was particularly passionate about the work the foundation did at the Sandhills School for dyslexia, where the foundation paid for a new building. On the day of the building’s dedication ceremony, children from the school hoisted posters that said “Thank You”.
“She got out of the car and started dancing with the children,” Bailey recalled.
The foundation plans to continue Susan and Darnall’s work “forever,” Bailey said. “We’re here, and we’re not going anywhere.”
The foundation last year donated more than $2 million to the development of a visitor’s center at Cayce’s 12,000 Year History Park. Among the projects the foundation is currently playing a major role in include the development of a “world-class” riverfront park in downtown Columbia on the Congaree riverbank.
