Laura Lee Manheim Hewitt, Former Bronxville Resident, Dies at 75
Written by the Family
Oct. 8, 2014: Laura Lee Manheim Hewitt, a philanthropist and ardent advocate of the Charleston food and arts industries, died Monday, September 15. She was 75.
Hewitt was born in Rutherfordton, NC, on March 12, 1939, but was raised in Greenville. She graduated from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, where she got a taste of civic duty as the vice president of her senior class.
She moved to the Low Country in 1961 and began teaching at Garrett High School in North Charleston. After she met and married then Coast Guard recruit William B. Hewitt, she stopped teaching and focused on her household and her family, which ultimately ended up in Bronxville.
The Hewitts returned to Charleston in the mid-1980s and have since left a philanthropic mark on the community. He is the president of a consulting company, Sirius Ventures Inc.
Laura Hewitt was one of the founding members of the Charleston Wine + Food Festival; she served seven years on the board and two years as chairwoman. In a 2011 biography for the Post and Courier, it was noted that she and her husband were instrumental in getting the festival in financial order, which led to doubling attendance, resulting in millions of dollars of economic growth.
Hewitt initiated the Friends of the Festival donation program and the festival recognized her contributions to the organization by creating the Laura Hewitt Culinary Legend Award, which celebrates a notable person or group in the local food community.
She also served as board president of Charleston Stage and board vice president of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, organizing numerous gala fundraisers for both, as well as for Spoleto Festival USA.
Hewitt's civic support continued as the board chair of the Storm Eye Institute with the Medical University of South Carolina, board president of the Christian Family Y, and board member of the Coastal Community Foundation, Trident United Way, American Red Cross, and others.
She is survived by her husband, Bill, four children, sixteen grandchildren, and three sisters; she was preceded in death by a brother.
Arrangements are being handled by J. Henry Stuhr's Downtown Chapel of Charleston.
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