Dr. Charles Pelot Summerall III

Dr. Charles Pelot Summerall III died peacefully at his home in Charleston, SC on August 31, 2022.   He was the son of Col. Charles P. Summerall, Jr. and Julia Potter Reeder of Belmont, MA.  Born on September 9, 1929 in Washington, DC, he was raised in an Army family on both sides.  His grandfather, Gen. Charles P. Summerall was U.S. Army Chief of Staff 1926-1932 and President of the Citadel 1931-1953. His maternal grandfather, Col. Russell Potter Reeder left medical training to join the Army on a whim and raised a remarkable and talented family.  Army life was enjoyable in the relatively peaceful period between the World Wars, but the Second World War affected the lives of many of Charles’ relatives.  Although he had always thought he would follow family tradition to attend West Point, in the end he chose medicine.  A year at St. Albans School in Washington led to scholarships at Andover ’47 and Harvard ’51, and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1955.  

After graduation, Charles met his wife Kathleen “Tunky” Glover in Boston through mutual Charleston friends.  Two dates after their first meeting Tunky announced to her roommates, “I am going to marry that man.”  They wed shortly after in 1956.  After two years residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Charles was drafted into the Army as a Captain in the Medical Corps stationed at an Army hospital near Stuttgart, Germany. The couples' experience there included driving adventures around Europe and winning a contest dressed as “Sputnik” and “Rocket”  in costumes Charles had  made.  Next stop was New Orleans, getting the new student hospital at Tulane up and running as well as cardiology training at Charity Hospital.  After another year at Duke Hospital they moved to Charleston, and in 1962 he joined the faculty at MUSC, where he served in the Cardiology Division until retirement in 1999 as Professor of Medicine, Emeritus.

Dr. Summerall was MUSC’s first full-time physician in charge of the cardiac catheterization laboratory.  For many years, he was director of the MUSC heart clinic and consulting cardiologist at the Ralph H. Johnson VAMC.  From 1965 to 1973 he organized and assisted in directing the SC Regional Medical Program, a federally sponsored effort to promote and coordinate the application of advances in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease, cancer and stroke.  He served as President of the SC Heart Association, as Governor for SC of the American College of Cardiology, and as founding medical director of the Charleston County EMS, his proudest achievement.   

After retirement, the Summeralls spent part of every year in Deer Isle, Maine.  There Charles enjoyed peaceful hours reading countless history books and gazing at an ever-changing view of Penobscot Bay from which he said it was hard to look away.

Charles was always grateful for his New England education which led him into a world of poetry, music, history and a lifelong love of learning.  He inherited the exceptional memory of his grandfather Summerall, and he regaled many a party by summoning up lengthy passages of poetry and song from the vast and active storehouse that was his mind.  He especially loved Shakespeare, various poets including Yeats, Rilke, Frost and E. E. Cummings, the Bible, opera, Gilbert and Sullivan and Sondheim.  He was a humanist, a dedicated and caring physician and teacher, and recognized by all who knew him as a gentleman in every sense.

Dr. Summerall left a note to say that his great happiness was in his marriage of 66 years to his wife Tunky, and in their children Jennie (Stuart Bennett), Charles and Thomas (Lanier), all of Charleston, and in their granddaughters Narcissa and Penelope. He is also survived by his twin sister, Julia Summerall Smith of Minneapolis, MN; nieces, nephews and many cousins.  His family mourns the loss of their unassuming, kind and brilliant patriarch.  

The family wishes to thank Lowcountry Lutheran Hospice for their thoughtful and caring assistance over the past few months.

Services will be private. Arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr, Inc. Downtown Chapel.