Honorable Julius H. Baggett was born February 14, 1925, in Florence, SC to parents Myrtis and Julius Baggett. Prior to law school, he served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1945 in the Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea and North Sea during World War II. He received his B.A. from Furman University in 1948 and his LL.B. in 1949 from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he was president of the Law School Federation, a member of the Wig & Robe Society and a member of the ODK Honorary Service Fraternity.
From 1950 until 1957, he worked in the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Atlanta, GA. From 1958 until 1966, he practiced law at Buzhardt and Baggett, Attorneys in McCormick. He later opened the Law Office of Julius H. Baggett, and from 1976 until 1994, he served as a Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. In 1994, he began practicing at the Law Office of Julius H. Baggett and Ralph S. Kennedy, Jr. until 2014.
He was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, where he was elected House Majority Leader. He served on the House Judiciary Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Reapportionment Committee, and the House Reapportionment Committee.
Judge Baggett was a member of the SC Bar, where he served on the Commission on Grievances & Discipline, a member of the State Bar of Georgia, U.S. District Court for the District of SC, the American Bar Association and the American Judicature Society. He was president of the McCormick County Bar Association and served on the Governor’s Committee on Criminal Justice, Crime and Delinquency.
He was director of the McCormick County Civil Defense; chair and director of the Upper Savannah Council of Governments; a member of the Lander College Foundation; and the McCormick County Voter Registration Board.
He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in McCormick; member and commander, American Legion Post #19; member and president of the Lions Club and the Exchange Club; president of the PTA; director of the Palmetto Savings & Loan Association; and chair of the McCormick County Fair.
Jay was also a member of the McCormick United Methodist Church, where hewas a Sunday school teacher, lay leader, choir member, chair of the Administrative Board, an annual conference delegate and the Greenwood district trustee at United Methodist Church.
The Honorable Julius H. Baggett died on September 18, 2019. He was predeceased by his first wife, Evelyn H. Baggett and by a son, Julius H. Baggett, Jr. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy “Dot” B. Baggett; four children, Steve Baggett (Sally), Dr. David Baggett, Judy Meggs (Wally), and Amy Kuenzie (Jack); eleven grandchildren; and 20 great grandchildren.