YORK, S.C. (AP) - A top leader of South Carolina’s only federally recognized American Indian tribe has died of COVID-19 complications.
Thomas Cornelious “Butch” Sanders, a member of the Catawba Indian Nation’s governing executive committee, died Saturday, The Rock Hill Herald reported. He was 74.
“He loved being able to help others,” a statement from the tribe’s Facebook page read. “He always had a smile on his face and was known for being a advocate for the tribe.”
“This is an unimaginable loss and to say he will be missed is a huge understatement.”
Sanders also served on the tribe’s housing board and had played softball for a Rock Hill team called Bailey’s Gulf.
The 144,000-acre (582,745-hectare) Catawba reservation is in York County. Tribal members elected Sanders to the executive committee, which oversees routine operations of the tribal government, in 2019. He had also served on the committee in earlier years, according to The Herald.
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