S.C. Business Hall of Fame to induct 3

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Three businessmen will be inducted into the S.C. Business Hall of Fame during a ceremony tonight at the University of South Carolina Alumni Center.

The honorees are: E. Smyth McKissick III, CEO and president of Alice Manufacturing Co.; the late Robert McNair, senior chairman of McNair Interests and chairman and CEO of the Houston Texans; and the late Albert Sottile, president of Pastime Amusement Co.

McKissick is the fourth generation to run the Easley-headquartered textile company and has been its president since 1988. McNair, a graduate of the University of South Carolina, sold his power generator company Cogen Technologies to Enron for $1.5 billion in 1999. Sottile opened the Gloria Theater in Charleston in 1927.

The black-tie ceremony, held in partnership with Junior Achievement of Greater South Carolina, will take place at 7 p.m. at the alumni center at 900 Senate St. The emcee for the 35th annual event will be Columbia native and TV personality Ainsley Earhardt, co-host of Fox & Friends.