Dr. Grady Hinson Hendrix

Dr. Grady Hinson Hendrix, 89, died at his home in Mt. Pleasant, SC, cared for by his wife and children. Born at home in Heath Springs, SC, he began his elementary education in a one-room school house, and went on to initiate the nuclear imaging program at the Medical University of South Carolina, perform the first cardiac catheterization at the Ralph H Johnson VA Hospital, and retired a Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Cardiology Division, at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). At the time of his death he was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and recipient of The Grand Order of the Cross from the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia.

Born to Julia Hinson Hendrix Hunter and Walter Herbert Hendrix in 1933, he led the Heath Spring Blue Devils to victory in the 1950 State Championships against Macedonia, 6 - 0. He graduated from Erskine College in 1954 and from the Medical College of South Carolina in 1958. He was a Lt. Cmdr in the United States Public Health Service from 1962 - 1964 before joining the MUSC faculty in 1965 where he remained until he retired in 2015, receiving the Faculty Service Award in 2001.

After living in England and working at Guy’s Hospital during two separate sabbatical years, he returned to Charleston inspired to develop MUSC’s Cardiology Department. In short order he became director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, initiated the nuclear imaging program in Cardiology, and started the first clinical trials research at MUSC. He also established an outreach program to help rural patients access advanced cardiac care, running clinics in Kingstree and Hampton, SC.

A member of 22 professional medical organizations, Grady published 112 research papers, 15 co-authored with Cardiology Fellows, and helmed 41 clinical trials. From 1976 until approximately 1988, he traveled for several weeks a year to Cali, Colombia, where he worked with cardiologist Dr. Jorge Araujo, at the Universidad del Valle, and it was there that he performed the first heart catheterization in Colombia. From 1982 until 2008 he traveled each year to St. George’s University, School of Medicine, in St. Vincent, the Grenadines, where he taught medicine and served as the assistant dean.

He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Dr. Marilyn Roberts Hendrix, his former wife, Shirley Altman Hendrix, and five children, Julia, Katharine, Ann, Grady Jr., and David, as well as two grandchildren, John and Owen Bailey, and his close friend, Russell, the cat. He is also survived by his brother, Wade Hunter, and his brother-in-law Roy Beckham, and many beloved nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his stepfather, John Hunter, and his siblings, Mary Emma Beckham, Walter Hazel Hendrix, Clarence Hunter, Leila Mae Bost, Marguerite Neal, Sarah Troublefield, Betty Lou Brasington, and Bobbie Jean Boney. A devoted fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, he regrets passing before they could return to the World Series. Given the choice, he would have done that differently. 

His family extends their thanks to Emma Irene Young, Cameron White, Kristin Bevilacqua and to the nurses and staff at ProMedica Hospice, Charleston, for the loving care they gave Grady in his final years.

Services will be held at St. Andrew’s Mt. Pleasant (440 Whilden St) on Sunday, May 21 at 4pm. There will be a visitation on Saturday, May 20 from 6-8pm at J. Henry Stuhr, Inc., Mt. Pleasant Chapel (1494 Mathis Ferry Rd).

The family requests donations be made to the MUSC Foundation, 18 Bee Street, MSC 450, Charleston, SC  29425; to the attention of the Hendrix Heart Fund. Or to St. Andrew’s Mt. Pleasant, 440 Whilden St., Mt. Pleasant, SC, 29464. Or to Cardinals Care, 700 Clark Street, St. Louis, MO, 63102.

A memorial message may be sent to the family on our website at www.jhenrystuhr.com.