Harlan E. Boyles

Who was Harlan E. Boyles?

Harlan E. Boyles was a politician and public servant in North Carolina, who served as North Carolina State Treasurer from January 1977 to January 2001.

Boyles grew up in Lincoln County, North Carolina, where his father farmed and owned a country store. As a boy, Boyles was afflicted with polio. He attended the University of Georgia and then transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned an accounting degree in 1951.

Boyles went to work for the state, first in the state Department of Revenue and later for the Tax Study Commission. For sixteen years, he was Deputy State Treasurer for Treasurer Edwin M. Gill. When Gill retired, Boyles ran for the office as a Democrat in the 1976 election and won. He was re-elected in 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996, for a total of twenty-four years in office. He did not seek re-election in 2000.

According to an obituary, Boyles "won universal respect for his conservative approach to the handling of state money and his wise counsel to governors and legislative leaders. North Carolina maintained its AAA credit rating, saving the state's taxpayers millions of dollars in interest."