Lou Benfante went to great pains to look like Ormsby Mitchel, the Civil War general. And William Hilton, the explorer. This way, he literally stepped into history, dressed as two pillars of Hilton Head Island’s past as best as a Lehigh University history major (magna cum laude) and retired supply-chain management executive could do it.

And in the process, Benfante helped create a wave of new attention to old Hilton Head. He pitched as a lucrative tourism opportunity, but also the right thing to do. Benfante -- who died Saturday of cancer at his Hilton Head home alongside his wife, Laurette, at age 71 -- was a quiet leader in the growing movement to recognize and teach the national significance of Beaufort County history.