COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former Columbia City Councilman Brian DeQuincey Newman, who was the youngest person ever elected to that governing body, has died.
Sources confirmed to News19 Tuesday that Newman had passed away. Newman was 40.
Voters chose him to sit on the council in 2010, taking the place of longtime councilman E.W. Cromartie, who had abruptly resigned from office. Newman represented District Two, which includes parts of downtown and several neighborhoods north of that area. While in office he served on the city’s budget and public safety committees.
Newman announced in 2014, however, that he would not seek another term and ended his time on council at the end of 2015.
He’d previously served as an assistant solicitor with the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office. He also founded his own law firm.
Newman was the great-nephew of Rev. I DeQuincey Newman who was a leader in the Civil Rights movement in South Carolina and the first Black man elected to the South Carolina State Senate since Reconstruction. His was the son of Clifton Newman, a prominent circuit court judge in the state.
Newman also once served as chairman of the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority’s Board of Directors.