Kenneth E. Toombs, 79, director emeritus of the Carolina Library System, died March 4 in Columbia. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., March 8 at Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel. The family will receive friends March 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home.

Toombs joined the University Libraries as director in 1967. He oversaw the addition of the millionth volume to the libraries' collections and the building of the Thomas Cooper Library and the Law Library. A nationally recognized academic library building consultant, he was co-founder of the Southeastern Library Network, was listed in Who's Who in Library Science and Who's Who in America, and received the Rothrock Award, the highest honor in the Southeastern Library Association for his contribution to the Solinet System, a database to identify and catalog library books.

Toombs was a charter member and served on the board of the S.C. Retirees Association. He is survived by his wife, Teresa; daughters Susan Shealy, Cheri Morris, and Teresa Heilman; nine grandchildren; and one great grandchild.

Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60601-7633; the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, 1359 Broadway, Suite 1509, New York, NY 10018; the Kenneth E. Toombs Fellowship Fund in Library and Information Science at the University; or to Palmetto Health Hospice (RMH & Bapt), P.O. Box 7275, Columbia, SC 29202.

An online guest book can be found at www.dunbarfunerals.com.

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