Du Brutz Cutlar Moore (1895-1965)

Portrait from the 1956 North Carolina State Manual.

   Following the lengthy write-up on  May 8th centering on Zanesville, Ohio Mayor Epaminondas L. Grigsby, we journey south to North Carolina for today's profile. The unusually named Du Brutz Cutlar Moore served five terms in the North Carolina State Senate and further distinguished himself in a variety of business endeavors in his home county of Robeson, North Carolina. Moore would gain additional distinction through his service as chairman of the State Board of Alcoholic Control, being named to that post by Governor Clyde Hoey.
  Du Brutz Cutlar Moore was born on August 6, 1895, in Pender County, North Carolina, the son of John Bailey and Serena Lee Moore. Moore attended the University of North Carolina from 1913-1914 and later was stationed in Europe during the First World War as a private with the Seventh Anti-Aircraft Battery. He married in June of 1922 to Ms. Ruth Robeson Norment, and three children were eventually born to the couple, Du Brutz Jr. (1923-2003), Ruth Moore Morgan (died 2004) and Mary Moore Warner.
   At the conclusion of his service in WWI, Moore returned to Lumberton, North Carolina, where he would be employed as a district manager for the Mutual Life Insurance Company. During the 1930s he became active in local politics and from 1934-36 held the post of secretary for the State Democratic Executive Committee. During the 1936 state gubernatorial election season Moore was affiliated with the campaign of Clyde Hoey, who, after winning the governorship, named Moore as the Chairman of the Alcohol Control Board of North Carolina in 1937. As the inaugural head of a board that was responsible for a "system of control of the sale of alcoholic beverages" in the state, Moore chaired this board until 1941, with his service later being lauded in the 1941 book North Carolina, the Old North State and the New, which stated:

"He is a man in the real sense of the word. His motto is 'Do the right thing under all circumstances.' He has proven the exception to the rule that a prophet is not without honor save for within his own country. Robeson County and Lumberton are proud of Cutlar Moore and his record, but if folks knew Cutlar's mother they would all understand why any trust committed to Cutlar Moore would be faithfully and conscienciously carried out."

   In addition to his involvement in the insurance business, Moore's 1965 obituary in The Robesonian newspaper also denotes his being a real estate developer and member of the North Carolina Association of Realtors. In 1952 Moore was elected to his first term in the North Carolina Senate from the 11th senatorial district and during the 1953-55 session was a member of the committees on Appropriation; Banks and Currency; Conservation and Development; Mental Institutions; Public Welfare; and Salaries and Fees. Moore was returned to the senate in the elections of 1954, 1956, 1958 and 1960, and in 1957 briefly held the post of state highway commissioner. His final senate term saw him named to several new committees, those being Agriculture; Banking; Education; Finance; Propositions and Grievances; Public Roads; and State Government. He would resign in 1961 to take on the post of U.S. Collector of Customs at Wilmington, North Carolina, where he would serve until his death. Moore is also recorded in his obituary as being the president of the Carolinas Broadcasting Company.
   While still attentive to state political affairs, Moore was also an active civic leader in Robeson County, being a deacon in the First Presbyterian Church and also was a member of the American Legion, Masons and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Named as Robeson County Man of the Year in 1956, Moore received further honors in the year prior to his death when he was bestowed the Liberty Bell Award from the Mecklenburg County Bar in recognition of his "service to the community and the law." Du Brutz Cutlar Moore died at the Duke Hospital in Durham, North Carolina at age 69 on March 27, 1965, after having been admitted for surgery a few days prior. He was survived by his wife and children and later was interred at the Meadowbrook Cemetery in Lumberton. 

 From the March 29, 1965 edition of the Lumberton Robesonian.