The board of directors of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center is pleased to announce that attorney Sean A. Scapellato (pictured) has been elected to serve as the Conroy Center’s new board chair. Scapellato, a former middle and high school English teacher and a contributing writer to Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, follows Dr. Jane Upshaw, USC Beaufort chancellor emeritus, who served as the Center’s founding board chair from 2016 through 2024.
“Our Conroy Center benefited immeasurably from Dr. Upshaw’s leadership,” praised Conroy’s widow Cassandra King, a bestselling author and the Center’s honorary board chair. “Jane’s expertise as chancellor and educator made it possible for our newly formed nonprofit to grow into a thriving educational organization serving Beaufort County while expanding our outreach into the wider community.”
“Although Jane’s retirement from our board left a huge void, I couldn’t be more pleased with the board’s election of Sean Scapellato,” said King in praise of the Center’s new chair. “As an attorney, a writer, and an educator, Sean brings literary as well as legal expertise to our organization, and he has already demonstrated his leadership skills during his term as board secretary. We’re excited to march forth with Sean at our board’s helm.”
Conroy Center executive director Jonathan Haupt added, “Sean is a fellow Conroy protégé, and while there are many of us out there—as Pat intended—Sean has certainly distinguished himself as the most consistently and enthusiastically active in the educational mission of our Conroy Center since our inception, as workshop instructor, book discussion leader, presenter, cheerleader, convener, connector, advocate, and friend. Because he experienced it firsthand, Sean is a tireless champion for Pat’s legacy and its continued relevance in the lives of the many readers, writers, teachers, and students we serve. With our tenth anniversary year now on the horizon, Sean has a brave, bold vision for the Conroy Center’s future. It’s an absolute honor to welcome him into his new leadership role and to collaborate with him as we begin this new chapter together.”
Scapellato is the owner of the Coastal Law Group, with offices in Charleston and Hilton Head Island. He previously served as an educator for more than twenty years, including teaching creative writing at the Charleston County School of the Arts. He also served as Pat Conroy’s research assistant for the #1 New York Times bestselling novel South of Broad, in addition to accompanying Conroy on his Charleston book tour for that novel. Sean is a frequent speaker and writing workshop instructor, both in Beaufort and in Charleston, where he lives with his wife and their two black labs. Of his friendship with Conroy, Sean writes in his essay in Our Prince of Scribes, “Pat was my hero, my muse, my mentor. He pulled me out when I was too much inside my head. He propped me up when I was disenchanted with the craft…. Pat was like that—always the good teacher, always building up others and compelling us to march forth.”
Established in 2016, the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center honors and continues the legacy of beloved writer, educator, and advocate Pat Conroy (1945-2016), author of The Water Is Wide, The Great Santini, The Lords of Disciple, The Prince of Tides, and others. With a museum and learning center located at 601 Bladen Street in historic downtown Beaufort, the Conroy Center welcomes more than 4,000 literary pilgrims through its doors each year. The Center also hosts a robust calendar of educational events—more than 100 a year—ranging from visiting author programs and writing workshops to an annual literary festival and a summer camp for burgeoning young writers and artists. The Conroy Center has been recognized as South Carolina’s only affiliate of the American Writers Museum, second American Library Association Literary Landmark, winner of the Civitas Award for Tourism Leadership, winner of multiple TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Awards, and as TripAdvisor’s top-rated attraction in Beaufort. To learn more, visit www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.