King Alexander Keith Giese

King Alexander Keith Giese, 66, of Columbia, SC, passed away on May 15, 2025, after a hard-fought battle with cancer.

Keith was born on October 7, 1958, to Dr. and Coach Warren K. Giese and Phyllis Phillips Giese of Columbia, SC. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Shawn Settlemyre Giese, and their children Metta Melanie Giese and Alexander Keith Giese, and his siblings, Ann Allison Haas (Jack), Mary Melanie “BZ” Giese, and Warren Blair “Barney” Giese (Charlotte), along with his nieces and nephews.

Keith was born a Gamecock. He was named after the co-captains of his father’s 1958 South Carolina Gamecock football team. While Keith’s mother recovered in the hospital after birth, the players visited and gifted her a silver cup with the name of her fourth child engraved upon it, each using a portion of their own names.

If the family wasn’t attending a football game, they were swimming. Like his older siblings, Keith was a competitive swimmer with butterfly being his best stroke. He swam throughout high school (Dreher, 1977), college (University of South Carolina, 1981), and he would continue swimming recreationally throughout his life.

Keith was a Carolina Scholar at the University of South Carolina and continued his education at the University of South Carolina School of Law, graduating in 1984. He was an active member of the SC Bar for 40 years. He began his legal career as a public defender for Richland County and later moved to Washington, D.C., as minority counsel for the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, United States House of Representatives. He returned to South Carolina, working as an assistant solicitor for the Eleventh Circuit, Lexington County, and then as deputy solicitor for the Sixteenth Circuit, York & Union Counties. He returned to Columbia in 1995, bringing Shawn with him, and remained in private practice until his death.

Keith was an avid reader, jogger, swimmer, Dodger fan, and of course, a fan of anything to do with the South Carolina Gamecocks. He always loved learning and was teaching himself how to speak Spanish, insisting he was “fluent.”

He loved his family, and they loved him.

Keith’s final resting place will be at Elmwood Cemetery, Columbia, SC, with his beloved parents.