Dec. 31, 2002 - Charles Fraser, the visionary developer who helped transform Hilton Head Island into a world-class resort and who died in a boat explosion earlier this month, is receiving praise from throughout South Carolina and the country. 

At a memorial a week ago at the harbor he created, speakers who included S.C. Gov.-elect Mark Sanford called Fraser a dreamer, a mentor and a genius. His passing has been noted in The New York Times and Time magazine. 

Fraser, 73, is credited with turning an isolated island into a resort that became the state's ninth-largest city and attracts millions of vacationers a year -- and doing it with an eye toward minimizing environmental harm and what he called the "visual pollution" of a Myrtle Beach or Atlantic City. 

The Brevard, N.C., resident, who owned a vacation home on his island paradise, was killed Dec. 15 in an explosion that threw four other people from the motor vessel Sundance, which was touring the Turks and Caicos islands. 

Fraser was apparently killed instantly, relatives said. His wife, Mary, was injured in the accident but returned to the United States for her husband's funeral Dec. 21. 

"Charles said, `I've only done 10 percent of what I've thought of,' " she said at the memorial service. 

What he did was impressive. He provided consulting services to The Walt Disney Co.'s town of Celebration, Fla., and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on a new reservoir. He and his family were instrumental in founding the PGA tournament's Heritage Classic on Sea Pines, which started in 1969. 

At the time of his death, he was providing consulting services to developers nationwide. 

Hilton Head, though, will be his enduring legacy. Fraser founded the Sea Pines Co., which in 1957 proposed building a two-lane road and bridge that would span Broad Creek and open development at the southern tip of South Carolina. 

With its gated subdivisions, golf courses lined with weathered-wood homes, clay tennis courts, multimillion-dollar beach homes and boutiques and restaurants, Hilton Head was a model for resorts around the world. 

A graduate of the University of Georgia with a law degree from Yale, Fraser was chairman of Sea Pines from 1956 through 1983. Under his leadership, the company planned and initiated development resorts in Florida, Virginia and Puerto Rico, in addition to Hilton Head and Kiawah Island in South Carolina. 

The Associated Press contributed to this article. 

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