Dulcie-Ann Steinhardt Sherlock

Daughter of an American ambassador and wife of a distinguished Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, Dulcie-Ann Steinhardt Sherlock was born in Manhattan and grew up in U.S. embassies in Sweden, Peru, Russia, Turkey, Czechoslovakia and Canada from 1933 to 1950. She lived and breathed international diplomacy and was a witness to some of the world’s greatest historical events.

She also believed in a life dedicated to the “3 Cs: church, country and community,” remembers her son, Victor Allan “Vic” Sherlock ’79. Vic’s classmate, Joel Anderson “Andy” Berly III ’78, remembers Mrs. Sherlock as “a remarkable woman who warmly welcomed me, a small-town Southern boy, into her international lifestyle socializing with ambassadors, congressmen, prime ministers and government officials.”

Mrs. Sherlock’s international background and dedication to helping others led to a remarkable gift to the University: the Archbold Tropical Research and Education Consortium on the Caribbean island of Dominica.

The series of events that led to this gift is “a textbook example of friends helping friends,” says Horace Fleming, a political science professor who taught Vic Sherlock. “There’s no question that Dulcie-Ann Sherlock was the catalyst in bringing about the connection between Clemson University and the Archbold property in Dominica,” Fleming remembers. “She was very dynamic, very interested in philanthropy and work in the Caribbean, and she and her family really loved Clemson.”

Mrs. Sherlock was founder and chairwoman of the Hospital Relief Fund of the Caribbean, chairwoman of Republicans Abroad/Western Hemisphere and a member of the Caribbean Basin Initiative commissioned by President Ronald Reagan. In 1980, she introduced Fleming to her friend, Eugenia Charles. Fleming was on sabbatical in Washington, D.C., to serve with Sen. Strom Thurmond. Charles was prime minister of Dominica and later chairwoman of the Organisation [sic] of Eastern Caribbean States. She worked with Reagan and Thurmond to request the 1983 U.S. intervention in Grenada.

Prime Minister Charles spoke at Clemson in 1984, sponsored by the then-new Strom Thurmond Institute, which Fleming directed. She was introduced to the crowd by her friend Dulcie-Ann Sherlock. In 1985, Fleming visited the prime minister in Dominica to discuss water resources policy research. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Sherlock introduced him to John Dana Archbold, who owned the 298-acre Springfield Plantation where Fleming stayed on the island.

Through a series of conversations with Mrs. Sherlock, Fleming, Charles, Thurmond and many others, John Archbold made the decision to donate his Dominica property to Clemson. A formal announcement was made in 1989 when he came to the University.

Today, Clemson students are studying and conducting service-learning projects at the Archbold Tropical Research and Education Consortium on Dominica. Studies include tropical ecology, environmental conservation, cultural anthropology, emerging economic development, youth development and more … all because of the international vision of Dulcie-Ann Sherlock.