IN REMEMBRANCE
IN REMEMBRANCE:
CHARLES C. SMITH, MD
SEPT. 27, 1930 - MARCH 8, 2020
Dr. Charles C. Smith, Jr. passed away on March 8, 2020. Dr.
Smith was a brilliant internist, wonderful friend, father,
husband and Christian.
Dad was born in Fonde, Kentucky on Sept. 27, 1930
to Charles C. Smith, Sr. and Clytie Smith. Fonde was a
coal camp during the time of the depression. Charles C.
Smith, Sr. ran the coal company store and Clytie Smith
was a school teacher. The people of this rural Bell County community
depended upon each other for survival and success. It was here that
Dad stated he learned that “folks are folks.” His mother emphasized
education. Both Dad and his brother, Dr. James Smith of Dallas,
had read every volume of the World Book Encyclopedia growing
up. Dad always considered Eastern Kentucky “God’s Country.”
Dr. Smith attended Georgetown College as an undergraduate
and graduated Summa Cum Laude. He attended the University of
Louisville School of Medicine–his father had recommended that
he become a doctor, so he could always be his own boss. While at
UofL, he met my mother, Rosemary Sledge Smith, the daughter of
a Methodist minister. They married in 1956, and she was always
the love of his life until she passed away in 2013.
He completed a rotating internship at University Hospital and
Hillman Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama with the goal to learn
medicine from Dr. Tinsley Harrison. He then served in the US Air
Force as a Flight Surgeon for the Military Air Transport Service.
While in San Antonio, his primary duty was to fly around the world
and serve as an attending for servicemen suffering with polio–from
this, he developed a tremendous knowledge of the iron lung. He
brought this expertise back home as a medical resident at UofL and
served as Chief Resident from 1960-1961. He joined the fulltime
faculty initially at UofL always with the Gratis Faculty, rising to
Clinical Professor of Medicine in 1985.
As a practicing internist, Dr. Smith was known as a consummate
diagnostician and clear decision-maker. He once told me that during
the course of his 50 years in medicine he felt like there was not a
condition he had not seen. Throughout his career and into his
retirement, he read every issue ever published of The New England
Journal of Medicine and Lancet.
Dad was a wonderful father, taking his family on vacations every
year and attending all of our sports and academic events. He had
four children–Dr. Charles C. Smith, III is a pulmonologist in New
Orleans; Dr. Mark Smith is an orthopaedic surgeon with Ellis &
Badenhausen in Louisville; Dr. Stephanie Altobellis is an internist
who served as partner to Dr. Smith; and the youngest, Cynthia
Smith is a CPA and Director with HCA Healthcare.
During Dr. Smith’s career, he was interested in the politics of
medicine and had the opportunity to serve as President of the
Jefferson County Medical Society, the Kentucky Medical Association,
Governor of the American College of Physicians and Counselor from
Kentucky to the Southern Medical Association. He was also a member
of the initial Board of Directors of Anthem Health Insurance. He
also served as President of the Innominate Society for the Study of
Medical History and Louisville Society of Internists. He received
many accolades during the course of his practice. He received the
outstanding alumnus award from Georgetown College in 1973, the
Alumni Service Award from the University of Louisville in 1987,
Physician Laureate Award (Kentucky Chapter) from the American
College of Physicians in 1991, Distinguished Alumnus Award from
University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1993, Excellence in
8 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE