[SuperJon]

Bob Brooks was the equivalent at CCU as Mr. Williams is at Liberty. The football stadium is named after him and he put up quite a bit of money to help get it started, and was always willing to help out in any way he could.

A special man and friend of the university has passed. RIP Mr. Brooks.

Hooters owner, local native Brooks dies
From staff reports

Robert Brooks

Read more on Brooks' passing in Monday's edition of The Sun News.

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MYRTLE BEACH | Robert "Bob" Brooks, 69, founder and owner of Hooters Air, died Sunday morning at home.

It was unclear Sunday how he died. The Horry County coroner's office said an autopsy will be performed Monday.

Brooks, of the Dunes Club community in Myrtle Beach, created the first Myrtle Beach-based airline, Hooters Air, in 2003 and in less than a year grew the airline to a fleet of four Boeing jets serving six destinations from Newark, N.J., to the Bahamas. At its peak, Hooters flew to 15 destinations.

In the end, the festive atmosphere that has made the Hooters restaurants famous couldn't translate into a money-making airline. Hooters Air racked up debt. The airline stopped commercials flights earlier this year and now operates charter flights only.

Horry County leaders mourned Brooks' death on Sunday, remembering Brooks as a savvy, yet downhome, businessman who never forgot the small community outside Loris where he was raised on a tobacco farm.

Leaders said he was a millionaire who always was willing to help Horry, whether it was by giving $2 million so Coastal Carolina University could build its first football stadium or starting an airline, Hooters Air, in Myrtle Beach to open up new markets to draw tourists.

"Whenever I saw him, the first question and usually the last question from him was, 'What can I do to help ya?'" said Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

Brooks made his fortune off Hooters chicken wings and salad dressings made by Naturally Fresh Foods, his Atlanta-based company.

Funeral arrangements for Brooks were incomplete Sunday and are being handled by Hardwick Funeral Home of Loris.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/my ... 053234.htm

[Libertine]

I knew that Mr. Brooks was diabetic but I gather that his death was fairly sudden and unexpected. Condolences to the CCU family.