Edwin M. Gill

Edwin Maurice Gill (July 20, 1899 – July 16, 1978) was an American politician, lawyer, and public finance official who served as North Carolina State Treasurer from 1953 to 1977.

Early life Edwin Gill was born in Laurinburg, North Carolina, United States on July 20, 1899, to Thomas Jeffries Gill and Mamie North Gill. His father was a banker and at one point served as mayor of Laurinburg. He graduated from Laurinburg High School and studied at Trinity College from 1922 to 1924, leaving once he passed the North Carolina State Bar examination. He also studied for one year at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts. He never married.

Career Gill practiced law with the firm Gibson and Gill from 1924 to 1931. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives to represent Scotland County in the 1929 and 1931 legislative sessions. He served on the subcommittees that drafted the Local Government Act and the bill authorizing the state to assume responsibility over the construction and maintenance of county roads. He also supported legislation for the Australian ballot, workers' compensation, consolidation of the University of North Carolina, and state benefits for the blind.

In 1933 Governor John C. B. Ehringhaus appointed Gill head of the nascent North Carolina Paroles Commission, where he organized the body and developed its procedures. In 1942 he left the job when Governor J. Melville Broughton appointed him Commissioner of Revenue. Gill held the office until 1949 He declined to run for re-election in 1976 and left office on January 8, 1977.

Later life Upon Gill's retirement, the North Carolina Bankers Association funded the creation of the Edwin Gill Professorship in business management at North Carolina State University. In his later life Gill painted as a hobby and served on the board of trustees of the North Carolina State Art Society. He died on July 16, 1978, and was buried at Hillside Cemetery in Laurinburg.