main thoroughfare of Isle of Palms will soon have a new name and look to honor longtime resident, entrepreneur, former mayor and city councilman and all-around charitable citizen Malcolm Burgis.
On Aug. 26, IOP City Council passed a resolution to rename the intersection of Ocean Boulevard and J C Long Boulevard to Malcolm M. Burgis Plaza. A granite monument and plaque will also be added.
“Malcolm’s a legend,” said former city council member Kevin Popson. “And when Councilman Jimmy Ward and former mayor Jimmy Carroll told me they were going to start the effort to rename the plaza in Malcolm’s honor, I decided to take the lead and help raise the money to find the kind of monument we wanted.”
While any longtime resident can tell you about the contributions Burgis has made to the betterment of the community since moving to Isle of Palms in 1957, the monument and plaque alone are indicative.
For example, within only a few weeks of becoming part of this effort, Popson had already received enough private citizen money to more than cover the original cost of the monument.
Ward reported at the Sept. 9 council workshop that the collected amount for the monument totaled $7,920 – exceeding the original goal by more than $400 so far – and Popson added that more donations are still coming in.
“We’re thinking with the excess, we’d like to recommend to council that it be used for landscaping improvements around the monument,” Ward said.
Popson confirmed at the workshop that the entire effort is “fully funded by private contributions.”
“We’re not asking the city for anything,” he said. “We’re just waiting for the monument to arrive, which I hope will be within the next 60 to 90 days.”
Even for people who are unaware that Burgis served as IOP mayor from 1980-81, or that he was on the city council’s ATAX committee for more than 20 years or that he has supported both VFW members and sponsored local children’s sports teams, they likely know his long-standing business The Windjammer, a Front Beach restaurant and live music staple since 1972.
Reading from the resolution, Mayor Phillip Pounds said that even though Burgis put money back into the business through the years, “he lent a hand to many employees and others in the community.”
Once the marker and plaque are ready, both Popson and City Administrator Douglas Kerr said an island-wide ceremony will be held to formally designate the new plaza intersection.
“I’ve known Malcolm for 40 years; there’s always been a friendship,” Popson said. “And our goal is to have a huge celebration and ribbon cutting when everything is in place.”
By L. C. Leach III
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