William Ackerman Park
This city park with its athletic fields, dog run, and open spaces, the site of a farmer’s market, is named for William Ackerman, who, coincidentally, is buried in Synagogue Emanu-El’s cemetery almost directly across the street. Born in Pennsylvania in 1915, William Ackerman, better known as “Bill,” won a Bronze Star for his service in World War II and met his future wife, Jennie Shimel, while in officer training school in Columbia, South Carolina. The couple married in 1945 and Ackerman joined Jennie’s father’s law firm. Besides becoming a pioneer in suburban real estate development, Ackerman helped found the first Charleston County Legal Aid Society and was active in politics, a devotee of sports, and a popular civic leader, serving on the boards of numerous Jewish and non-Jewish organizations.
Ackerman died at age 84 in 1999, a month before he was to receive the Charleston Jewish Federation’s first Community Builder’s Award. A street in the South Windermere neighborhood that Ackerman was instrumental in developing is named for him.
