By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Beaufort County Coroner David Ott received a high honor during a recent training conference.
Ott was recognized as the 2024 South Carolina Coroner of the Year by the South Carolina Coroner’s Association as he attended the annual gathering on June 27, 2023.
He received the award for his “outstanding work and advances within his office,” according to a press release sent out by the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office on Tuesday, July 2.
Some of the accomplishments that led him to being awarded with this honor include reuniting unclaimed cremains dating back to 1982 and hiring a full-time Forensic Pathologist and assistant.
In 2023, the office received National Accreditation through the Association of Coroner’s and Medical Examiners and Ott has also added a Lodox X-ray system and Randox rapid drug screening machine.
Ott, who was elected to the office in 2020, will not be seeking re-election in November and will retire in January.
“Coroner Ott is kind, caring and shows the utmost compassion when dealing with families who have lost a loved one. He is the epitome of what a public servant should be,” the release said. “He puts his heart into his job and strives every day to severe the citizens and visitors of Beaufort County in the best way possible.”
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
