Joseph Cabaniss Obituary

Joseph Warren Cabaniss CHARLESTON - Joseph Warren Cabaniss, 93, died Friday, January 12, 2018. An attorney, he was born on July 12, 1924 in Macon, GA. Mr. Cabaniss was active in the early civil rights movement, receiving the Robert Worth Bingham Prize at the College of Charleston for a speech in 1947 advocating the end of racial segregation. He was Chairman of the Charleston Council on Human Relations, a biracial organization for better communication and cooperation between the races. He also served on a committee appointed by Governor McNair to attempt to resolve the 1969 strike by hospital workers at MUSC. He graduated from the College of Charleston in 1947 and received a law degree from the University of South Carolina in 1949. At the College of Charleston he was a member of Pi Kappa Phi and the winner of the Bryan Mathematics Prize. In 2006 he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award. At the Law School he was a member of Wig and Robe, a legal scholastic society, and in 1996 he received the "Compleat Lawyer" Award from the South Carolina Law School Alumni Association. Mr. Cabaniss entered the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in 1943 and served on active duty in the Pacific during World War II and later during the Korean conflict. He retired with the rank of Major in the Reserve. He was the managing partner of the law firm of Grimball & Cabaniss, which he founded in 1964 with the late William H. Grimball, and he remained as counsel to the firm after his retirement. Mr. Cabaniss was a Past President of the Charleston County Bar Association and was a member of the South Carolina and American Bar Associations. He was a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Permanent Member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference. He was a member of the Vestry of the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul and served on the Board of St. John's Mission Center. He was active in social and civic affairs, serving as President of the Exchange Club of Charleston, President of the Coastal Carolina Fair and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Forum. He was also a member of the Carolina Yacht Club and the Piping and Marching Society of Lower Chalmers Street. Mr. Cabaniss is survived by three sons and their wives: Stephen E. Cabaniss (Julia), Albuquerque, N.M., Thomas R. Cabaniss (Deborah), New York, N.Y., and Henry H. Cabaniss (Christy), Mt. Pleasant, S.C., as well as five grandsons: Emory, Andrew, William, Greyson, and Daniel. There will be a memorial service on Saturday, February 3rd at 4 p.m. at the French Protestant (Huguenot) Church at 136 Church Street in Charleston. Visit our guestbook at www.legacy.com/obituaries/ charleston