Horry newspaper co-founder and community volunteer dead at 70

Stephen Robertson, the founder of a local media company whose properties include the Horry Independent and Myrtle Beach Herald, died of heart complications Dec. 31.

He was 70.

Robertson and his wife, Cheryl, launched Waccamaw Publishers 43 years ago, with the Horry Independent first going to press on March 25, 1980. The Horry County News & Shopper followed five years later.

“He was an incredible journalist, publisher and leader of our state’s newspaper industry,” the South Carolina Press Association wrote on its Facebook page Jan. 3.

Robertson, a graduate of Coastal Carolina University, is a past president of the statewide press association and a former chairman of the Horry County Recreation Commission.

Other leadership posts included serving as president of the Conway Lions Club and Grand Strand Press Association and as a member of the Horry County Red Cross board of directors. Robertson also sat on governing boards for every chamber of commerce in the region.

He also was an avid history buff, publishing several books on the county and state’s past.

Robertson retired from publishing in 2020 to run as a Republican in state House District 105, losing in a primary to incumbent Kevin Hardee of Loris.

Funeral services are slated for 1 p.m. on Jan. 5 at The Rock in Conway with burial at Marion’s Centenary Methodist Church to follow at 3 p.m.