Law Enforcement Figure. A 28 year veteran of the F.B.I., he rose from clerk to Deputy Director and is remembered as J. Edgar Hoover’s long time assistant. Raised in southeastern Georgia, he was a 1942 graduate of Florida’s Stetson University and at 21 became the youngest man ever accepted into the Bureau. Following his World War II service in the US Navy, DeLoach rejoined the F.B.I. and over the years served as Hoover’s liason with the Senate while having primary responsibility for several major investigations including those of the JFK Assassination, the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, and the 1968 manhunt for James Earl Ray. Handpicked as Hoover’s successor, his path to the top was derailed when federal law was changed in 1964, allowing Hoover to serve past age 70 and effectively making him Director for life. DeLoach was assigned to the White House during the Johnson years,  retired in 1970, spent the next 15 years as a vice president of Pepsi Cola (offered the Directorship upon Hoover’s 1972 death, he stated that he could not then afford the income reduction which would have resulted from the job change), then settled on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The head of the J. Edgar Hoover Foundation from 1973 until 2007, he was active in his adopted community, serving on the Beaufort County Council, founding the Hilton Head Council for the Arts, and receiving the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s higest honor. DeLoach continued to take-on occasional law enforcement investigations, mentored younger policemen, published “Hoover’s FBI: The Inside Story of Hoover’s Trusted Lieutenant” in 1995, and was Clint Eastwood’s technical advisor for the 2011 film “J. Edgar”. He lived out his days on Hilton Head Island, stayed busy with his church, and died of the effects of advanced age. Of the legendary F.B.I. Director whom he served for many years he said: “I loved him but I didn’t like him”. (bio by: Bob Hufford)