Eugene Gary was one of three sons of the noted Dr. Franklin F. Gary and his wife, Mary Caroline Blackburn. He was a South Carolina judge, along with both of his brothers, Ernest and Frank Boyd Gary.
He was educated at Judge W.C. Benet’s Classical School at Cokesbury and at South Carolina College, from which he graduated in 1872. He studed law under his uncle, General M. W. Gary, of Edgefield, and was admitted to the Bar in September 1875. In 1877, he married Miss Eliza Tusten of Abbeville. They had nine children, and none of their four sons survived him.
Though primarily a scholar and student, steeped in the Classics, he was successful in the Abbeville Bar and in politics, in which he rose to the Office of Lieutenant Governor.
In December 1893, he was elected Associate Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court and was elected Chief Justice in 1912. His passion as a member of the South Carolina Supreme Court for 33 years was the administration of justice.
He wrote 2000 opinions and many articles for leading law journals and delivered many addresses.