Jim Benson dropped out of Greer High School in the 11th grade because he kept falling asleep during class thanks to his overnight shift at a local textile mill.
Today, the 87-year-old Greenville native is known for selling cars — and his name is on Greenville Technical College’s Benson Campus in Taylors.
“I should have never taken that job,” Benson says with a wistful chuckle.
In 1941, his father opened a filling station on East Poinsett Street in Greer. Soon, the younger Benson managed to buy an eighteen-wheeler, which he used to haul cars from Pennsylvania and New York to Greenville. Then he sold the truck and used his $200 profit to open his eponymous company, according to the Upstate Business Journal. Now Benson Automotive Group operates seven dealerships across the Upstate.
In 2014, he donated $3 million to the Greenville Technical Foundation.
“Greenville Tech just gives these young people opportunity,” Benson says. “Everybody doesn’t need to go to college. Some people need good job training to get out, go to work. And they’re so good at that.”
Nowadays, after a few stints on the Greenville Tech Foundation board, Benson is one of nine life and emeritus members. He is also among several high-profile philanthropists and organizations whose names appear on various Greenville Technical College sites.
He started giving to the foundation about a decade ago because, as he says of the college, “They take these kids that have never earned a paycheck. And then they teach them job skills where they go out and get a good job and make a good living. That’s what I love about them.”
Donors from across the Upstate and even as far as California have poured millions more into the institution, which started in 1962. The foundation celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
The college now comprises four campuses and six special centers, with programs ranging from aerospace to culinary and hospitality, among others.
Prisma Health joined that roster in October 2022 when the state’s largest health care organization gave the foundation $1.5 million for the Prisma Health Center for Health & Life Sciences. The facility is currently under construction on GTC’s Barton Campus on South Pleasantburg Drive. Prisma is the No. 1 employer of Greenville Tech graduates, according to the foundation.
“Transformation of health requires new approaches and solutions,” says Dr. Jonathan Gleason, Prisma Health’s executive vice president and chief clinical officer. “By investing in the college’s health care educational and training opportunities, we are creating pathways for students to obtain vibrant careers at Prisma Health.”
Look inside: Benson auto museum is a tribute to 1950s chrome, culture and cars
Benson and Prisma aren’t the only notable names on Greenville Tech sites. Others include the Barton and Brashier campuses, the Truist Culinary & Hospitality Innovation Center, the Dreisbach/Anderson Student Success Center, and the Gene Haas Center for Manufacturing Innovation.
Of the foundation and college, Benson says: “They’re so important for the state. BMW came here because they could get job training for their workers there.”
Then, he adds, “We’ve got all this industry moving here every day. And the first thing they need is workers and that’s where Greenville Tech comes in.”
Greenville Tech campuses
Barton Campus: 506 S. Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville. The campus is named for Thomas Barton, who served as Greenville Technical College’s president from its founding in 1962 until his retirement in 2008.
Benson Campus: 2522 Locust Hill Road, Greer. Named for Jim Benson, businessman and owner of Benson Automotive Group.
Brashier Campus: 1830 W. Georgia Road, Simpsonville. The campus is named for Walt Brashier, a prominent real estate developer.
Northwest Campus: 8109 White Horse Road, Greenville.
Greenville Tech special centers
Prisma Health Center for Health & Life Sciences: Named for the health care system, the center is under construction on Barton Campus.
Truist Culinary & Hospitality Innovation Center: 556 Perry Ave., Suite B114, Greenville. Truist Bank’s Truist Foundation gave $1 million in 2020 to renovate the site and provide educational programs and scholarships.
Gene Haas Center for Manufacturing Innovation: 575 Millennium Blvd., Greenville. Haas Automation’s Gene Haas Foundation donated $2 million to the Greenville Tech Foundation in 2016. The California-based company manufactures and holds patents for computer numerical control, or CNC, machines.
Dreisbach/Anderson Student Success Center: Barton Campus, Building 102, 506 S. Pleasantburg Drive. Daniel Dreisbach, the first Rhodes scholar from a technical college in South Carolina and now a professor at American University in Washington, D.C., was a Greenville Tech classmate of Dodie Anderson. “Dodie Anderson was the donor, but when she made her gift to name the Student Success Center, Daniel had influenced her so much in her educational pathway that she wanted his name to appear first,” says Ann Wright, Greenville Tech Foundation’s vice president for advancement. Anderson and her husband, Bob, founded Anderson Hardwood Flooring.
McKinney Automotive Center: 227 N. Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville. The center is named after William F. McKinney, who was Christine McKinney Brashier’s father and Walt Brashier’s father-in-law.
South Carolina Army National Guard Readiness Center at SCTAC: 915 Perimeter Road, Greenville.
