Lewis F. Holmes III ’73

Lewis F. Holmes III ’73

Successful businessman. Devoted alumnus.

 

Lewis F. Holmes III has devoted his life to serving others, promoting agriculture and supporting his alma mater.

The 1973 Clemson graduate is owner and operator of Lewis F. Holmes Farms in his hometown of Johnston. A diversified farmer, he has grown or produced numerous crops, including cotton, corn, wheat, rye, grain sorghum, soybeans, brown top millet, and timber. He was a successful peach grower and commercial peach packer for more than 30 years.

Lewis is a past president of both the South Carolina Peach Council and the National Peach Council. He is a former chairman of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the South Carolina Peach Board. He received the United States Department of Agricultural Soil Conservation Award for the Southeast in 2004.

A U.S. Army veteran who served in Korea, Lewis is a past commander of American Legion Post 154 in Johnston and a former Edgefield County American Legion commander.

He previously served as president of the Johnston Sertoma Club and the Ridge Agricultural Club. He is an original member of the Blue Steel Club of Strom Thurmond High School Athletics. He was a major contributor to the Golden Harvest Food Bank and Salvation Army, both of Augusta, Ga. He was also a long-time football prognosticator for the Aiken Standard.

For Clemson, Lewis is a longtime supporter of the Clemson Alumni Association and of IPTAY, for which he had been Edgefield County chairman for more than 35 years. He is a member of the Anna Calhoun Clemson Cumulative Giving Society, the 1889 Society, the 110 Society and has served on the University’s Board of Visitors.

Lewis and his family were initial contributors to the West Zone initiatives for the Tiger football program, resulting in the naming of the head coach’s office in his father’s memory. They also established a perpetual scholarship in Clemson’s School of Architecture in memory of his late brother, Preston Brooks Holmes.

During his days as a Clemson student, Lewis served as a senior sports writer for The Tiger newspaper and as an ROTC company commander. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army upon graduation.

Lewis Holmes has two daughters, Brannon H. McComb, a 2001 Clemson graduate, and Valarie Brooks Davis. He and his wife, Linda, currently reside in Evans, GA.