Frederick B. Dent obit

Fred Dent, businessman, textile leader, dies at 97

He was not on the list.

A Spartanburg businessman and textile industry leader who led Mayfair Mills for decades and served in top political roles during the Nixon and Ford presidencies died Tuesday.

Fred Dent, a Spartanburg businessman and textile industry leader who led Mayfair Mills for decades and served in top political roles during the Nixon and Ford administrations, died Tuesday. He was 97.

“He will be greatly missed,” said former Spartanburg Mayor Bill Barnet, who has known Dent since 1976. “He was a really great leader who was a mentor to many. This guy had a very remarkable career and was deeply respected.”

“He was a gentleman’s gentleman,” added local businessman George Dean Johnson. “Our city, our state, our country lost a great American. He made everyone he came in contact with a better person.”

Before he helped form Spartanburg Day School, and long before he started volunteering for Mobile Meals, Dent was born into the textile industry in 1922.

His family owned Joshua L. Baily & Company, a cotton business that was founded in 1876 by Dent’s great-grandfather, records show. In 1947, Dent transferred to Spartanburg from Connecticut to work as a sweeper at the Arcadia-based Mayfair Mills, a Joshua Baily affiliate.

Eleven years later, he was elected president of Mayfair Mills, which had two cotton plants at the time. Later, four more would open in the Upstate of South Carolina and Georgia before closing in the early 2000s, according to newspaper articles.

He served on the South Carolina Manufacturers Association and the American Textile Manufacturers Institute.

Former President Richard Nixon, during his second term, named Dent U.S. Secretary of Commerce. He kept that role until 1975 when former President Gerald Ford appointed him Special Representative for Trade Negotiations.

“His reach goes internationally really,” said Barry Wynn, former state chairman of the Republican Party. Wynn said Dent had always been heavily involved in politics and noted that he was classmates with George H.W. Bush at Yale.

“He was involved in the George H.W. Bush’s campaign for President,” added Wynn. “He’s really left an incredible footprint, not just locally, but nationally.”

Following his political stint in Washington D.C., he returned to Spartanburg and to his role as president of Mayfair Mills. In 1994, he was inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame.

According to a Legacy of Leadership Profile published by the state’s business hall of fame in 1999, “Dent is every bit a Southern gentleman, one of the state’s most respected business leaders.”

It continued: “Having met the challenge of adapting from the culture of New England to that of the Deep South, he has always been a friend of newcomers to Spartanburg — and they’ve come from throughout the world.”

Even local competitors in the textile industry had respect for Dent.

“He was a very delightful person,” said Walter Montgomery, whose ancestors opened Spartan Mills in 1888.

“He (Dent) was always very interested in what was going on in Spartanburg. He always had a positive outlook and wanted to make sure things were done correctly. He was a very friendly, outgoing person.”

Among his accomplishments on the local level, Dent was among the founding fathers of Spartanburg Day School, which opened in 1957.

“In the life of Spartanburg Day School, Mr. Dent has been our constant, our own North Star, guiding our path from the very first moments the concept of a school was spoken,” said head of school Rachel Deems. “He was a quiet presence, never one to seek any credit or attention, leading with integrity, by example and with a reverence for the school that has contributed in large and significant ways to the success we share today.”

He’s referred to as a “foot soldier” for Spartanburg Mobile Meals, for which he’s held several board positions through the years.

He delivered food for shut-ins well into his 80s.

“He was the most incredible person,” said Susan Spires, vice president of development with Mobile Meals. “We all loved him as much as he loved us. If the world was full of Fred Dents, it would be a beautiful place.”

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Jan. 11, 2020, at the Episcopal Church of the Advent. A reception will follow from 2:45 to 4 p.m. in the Parish and Community Life Center.

A private burial will be held in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens.