Douglas Lanford Hinds (May 25, 1933 â May 2, 2025) was an American politician who represented District 34 in the South Carolina Senate from 1989 to 1992 and earlier served as mayor of Georgetown, South Carolina from 1977 to 1986. Over four decades in public life he was noted for his conservation advocacy on Winyah Bay, his low-country legal practice and leadership that in 1992 earned him the stateâÂÂs highest civilian honour, the Order of the Palmetto.
Hinds was born in Kingstree, Williamsburg County, the eldest of three children of Joseph James Hinds and Lillian Lyda Hinds. He attended Furman University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1955. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1963 and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar the same year.
Running as a coastal-conservation Democrat, Hinds won a 1989 special election to fill the District 34 seat and was re-elected in 1990. His district work included brokering the agreement that led to federal designation of the North InletâÂÂWinyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, approved by the NOAA in 1992.
Previously, Hinds was elected mayor of Georgetown in 1977, a post he held for three two-year terms.
Hinds died in Georgetown on May 2, 2025, at the age of 91.
Governor Carroll Campbell presented Hinds with the Order of the Palmetto on June 4, 1992, for âÂÂmeritorious service in conservation and coastal management.âÂÂ