On July 31, 2024, Dr. Williamson Zeigler Bradford Jr. (Bill) died at the age of 92 ½ after a rich and distinguished life, filled with purpose, faith, and a loving family, including his beloved wife of 66 years, Cathy, and their three children, eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Born to Dr. W.Z. Bradford and Mary Speir Bradford, Bill was the eldest of five siblings and grew up at 310 Colville Road. A fourth-generation Charlottean, he was also proud to be among seven doctors in his extended Bradford family, including his own two sons.
Bill attended Central High School and earned his Eagle Scout from Boy Scout Troop 3 in 1947, a badge of honor that he was particularly proud of all his life. He graduated from Davidson College in 1953 and then the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1957 as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. One festive evening at a dinner dance with his fellow students, he fell in love with Catherine Boyle, a nurse at the University of Pennsylvania, and they married in 1958. After an internship and residency in obstetrics and gynecology at University of Pennsylvania, he moved to New York and completed his fellowship in surgery and breast oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In 1962, he returned to Charlotte with his young family to join his father and his uncle, Dr. Wallace Bradford, at the Bradford Clinic where he would practice for the next 36 years.
Bill had an outstanding career as a physician, continuously striving to improve the lives of those around him. He was chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Presbyterian Hospital, where he created an innovative service to foster family support for childbirth. He founded and served as the medical director of the first Planned Parenthood clinic in Charlotte, and was honored to accept the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood for his dedicated service. As a pioneering breast cancer surgeon, he helped establish a multidisciplinary clinic at Carolina Medical Center. His devotion to medicine and to the Presbyterian Church also inspired him to care for underserved people on nearly a dozen mission trips to Cuba, Haiti, and several African countries. Bill retired from his medical practice in 1998, which allowed him to pursue his many interests, including travelling across the globe. In this spirit of adventure, he and Cathy were among the first Americans to travel to Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
Bill had a curious mind and a sharp intellect, and he was a voracious reader, always surrounded by books, magazines, and journals. His fascination with the natural world amidst urban Charlotte inspired him to cultivate an expansive garden, become a beekeeper and to raise chickens, sometimes to the annoyance of his neighbors. He was also a fierce champion of many social causes, at times a maverick, seeking to make the world a better place. He loved to tell stories and occasionally break out in song, engaging his audience with his booming, deeply resonant voice. He had a wide group of devoted friends, including those in the playreading group he shared with Cathy, his workout community at the Dowd YMCA and his beloved Romeo (Retired Old Men Eating Out) buddies.
Above all else, Bill cherished his family and the times spent together at home and on backpacking, canoeing, fishing, and horse pack trips to beautiful places spanning Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, and Northern Canada. He had a deep and active faith, and was devoted to Myers Park Presbyterian Church, where he was a lifelong elder. He relished his years of study with the Bible Work Bench at Myers Park Baptist Church and the thoughtful conversations he shared with fellow members of Grandfather Mountain Philosophical Society. And although Bill and Cathy enjoyed many great trips with dear friends around the world, their most treasured times were spent in Linville, North Carolina. He loved tennis, croquet, hiking the nearby mountains, and could often be found on the Linville River casting to rising trout.
Bill is survived by his wife, Cathy Bradford; his three children; Kathy Ewing (Tom), Bill Bradford (Catherine), Eric Bradford (Kathy); his grandchildren T.C. Ewing (Mary Brook), Bridgette Traywick (Lisle), and Bradford Ewing; Brooks Bradford, Eliza Bradford, and Benjamin Bradford; Eric Bradford and Caroline Bradford; and four great grandchildren. He is also survived by his siblings David Bradford (Sharon), Woody Clark (Jerry-dec), and Nancy Conner (Charles). Sister Mary Barry predeceased Bill. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service to celebrate Bill’s life will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, October 25, 2024 at Myers Park Presbyterian Church. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be sent to The Linville Foundation or to Global Missions at Myers Park Presbyterian Church.