Mark W. Buyck, Jr., NAFUSA member, who served as United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina in 1975 to 1977, was honored at the 2014 South Carolina Bar Association meeting with the DuRant Award for Distinguished Public Service. The award recognizes long and illustrious public service and outstanding leadership to the profession, community, state and nation, and is considered the highest award presented by the South Carolina Bar Foundation.

Buyck practices with the Florence, SC law firm of Wllcox, Buyck & Williams, P.A., and is a past-president of the S. C. Defense Trial Attorneys Association.  He is a permanent member of the U. S. Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, and past-chairman of USC Law School Association. He is a former member of the Federation of Insurance and Corporate Counsel and the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel and a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates.  He is past-president of the S. C. Chapter of ABOTA and a current member of its national board of directors.  Buyck is past-chairman of the National College of District Attorneys Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a regent and vice president of the National College of District Attorneys.

He graduated from the University of South Carolina  law school.  He is on the Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina.  He was named Distinguished Alumni by the USC Alumni Association in 2005 and received an honorary degree from Carolina at the May 2008 graduation. Buyck has been active in civic affairs, serving as president of the Florence Rotary Club, the Florence Country Club, and the Florence Little Theatre.  He was one of the founders of the Florence Heritage Foundation, the first chairman of its board and current president.

Buyck is past President of the South Carolina Historical Society. He served for a decade on the initial Advisory Board of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He is a former member of the Executive Committee of the S.C. State Bar Foundation. He has been honored by two Governors of South Carolina with the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest award, and has been listed in all published editions of the Best Lawyers in America. He received the prestigious honor of the Judge Hemphill award for distinguished service to the profession and the public by the S.C. Defense Trial Attorneys Association and the Compleat Lawyer award by the USC Law School. In 2006 he was presented the Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of South Carolina and in 2008 he received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the USC School of Law. Buyck is a member of the Board of Directors of The Bank of Clarendon and IRIX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He serves on the Board of Trustees and as Secretary of Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation and is a member of the Carolinas Hospital System Board of Trustees.