Joe Herron Owens, Jr.

Joe Herron Owens, Jr. of Charleston, South Carolina, died on Saturday, February 14, 2026. A celebration of his life is to be held at the Pawleys Island Chapel on Wednesday, February 25, at 11:00 a.m.

He is survived by his sister, Ann Nicholson Owens of Washington, D.C.

Mr. Owens was born September 30, 1937, in Winnsboro South Carolina, the son of Joe Herron Owens and Eva Nicholson Owens. After graduating from Mt. Zion Institute in Winnsboro he attended Wofford College, where he became a member of the Kappa Alpha Order. He went on to graduate from the University of South Carolina and earned his Juris Doctor from the USC School of Law in 1963. After service in the South Carolina Air National Guard in the Judge Advocate General Corps, he began his legal career in the Trust Department of C&S Bank in Atlanta.

Drawn more to public service than private profit, Mr. Owens soon moved to the nation’s capital to help shape public policy and to contribute to civic life. There, his intelligence, warmth and good humor attracted the attention of West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd, who took him under his wing and introduced him to the inner workings of Washington. The fast-paced, all-or-nothing world of politics suited this personable small-town South Carolinian, who became the trusted man behind the curtain to then one of the most powerful figures in the U.S. Senate.

After a long and distinguished tenure as a senior staff member for Senator Byrd, Mr. Owens became Executive Director of the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation, a national organization representing the chief administrators of public vocational rehabilitation agencies across the United States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. In this role, he worked with his law school classmate and friend Jack G. Duncan of Marion, South Carolina, to develop and pass meaningful legislation on behalf of Americans with disabilities. Mr. Owens held this position from the establishment of the CSAVR’s Washington, D.C. office, in 1973 until his retirement in 2001.

Throughout his decades in Washington, Mr. Owens also devoted himself to the arts and humanities most notably as an ardent supporter of the American Council for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the arts and arts education. In later years, after settling in downtown Charleston, Mr. Owens never met a stranger. A natural raconteur, he delighted in sharing the remarkable - and often highly entertaining - stories of his life. Deeply attached to his home state, Mr. Owens was always happiest when he returned to South Carolina. Beloved by many, he will be profoundly missed.

Arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr, Inc. Downtown Chapel.