Rudy Barnes practiced law in Columbia, South Carolina for over fifty years. Born in Prosperity, South Carolina, he graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law shortly before the outbreak of World War II. When the United States entered the conflict, he left his practice and enlisted in the Navy, serving as an aerial navigator in the Pacific Theatre.

When the war ended, he returned to Columbia and entered into partnership with Monroe Fulmer as the firm of Fulmer and Barnes. At the time of his death in 1995, he was the senior partner in Barnes, Alford, Stork & Johnson, LLP, created in 1983 with the merger of Barnes, Stork, Wolff & Reyner, a firm specializing in business, real estate and taxation, and Alford, Johnson & Salane, a civil litigation firm. He was widely regarded as a pre-eminent attorney in the field of real estate, representing both developers and lenders. He was also legal counsel for the South Carolina Bankers Association for over thirty years.

Mr. Barnes was founder and former board chairman of the Bank of Commerce of Prosperity. He also served as chairman of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce, United Way of the Midlands, Epworth Children’s Home Board of Directors, and Greenwood Methodist Home. A longtime member of Wesley United Methodist Church, Mr. Barnes served for many years as Chancellor of the South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. The National Association of Health and Welfare Ministries of the United Methodist Church named him Trustee of the Year. The University of South Carolina School of Law honored him in 1993 with the prestigious Compleat Lawyer Award.