Category: 1963

Robert Bradwell Rivers passed away on September 21, 2026, at Levine & Dickson Hospice House at Southminster in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was 85 years old.

     Robert was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina, on May 12, 1941, eldest child of John Robert Rivers and Valerie Woodward Rivers. He grew up in Chesterfield, SC before leaving home to attend Davidson College, where he joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity. He graduated in 1963 with a Finance degree.

     Robert proudly served in the Army, spending time at Fort Sill and Fort Bragg as well as South Korea DMZ. He was honorably discharged in 1969.

     He began his career in finance with Citizen and Southern National Bank (C&S) in Atlanta before moving to Baltimore, Maryland, working for Maryland National Bank. He later joined Chevy Chase Bank in the Washington, D.C area. Robert delayed his retirement to aid in the acquisition by CapitalOne, before retiring in 2009.

     Upon his retirement, Robert made the move to Sarasota, Florida where he quickly got involved in his new neighborhood, including writing the community newsletter. He spent 15 years in Sarasota and moved to Charlotte in 2024 to be closer to his daughter and her family. He was a resident of Matthews Glen, where he especially enjoyed the friendship and camaraderie of his Davidson 3rd floor neighbors.

     Outside of work, Robert loved to watch sports with the Washington (Redskins) Commanders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers being his favorite NFL teams. He enjoyed traveling and visited many European and South America countries. He had a sharp and curious mind and took great pleasure in keeping up with current events, monitoring his stock portfolio, and reading multiple newspapers each day.

     Robert also had an extraordinary ability to research just about anything. Whether it was a major decision, such as buying a car, or something as seemingly insignificant as choosing a computer keyboard, he wanted to understand every option before making a decision. His devotion to Consumer Reports became a running family joke—and a memorable part of who he was.

     Robert was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Michael Rivers. He is survived by his daughter Meredith and husband Todd Burkitt of Charlotte, NC; son David and wife Kate Rivers of Louisville, CO; son Matthew and wife Laura Rivers of Janesville, WI. He is also survived by nine adoring grandchildren, as well as his sister, Anne Rivers, and her children, Caroline Hart and Will Lilly; and a large extended Rivers family.

     A graveside service will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, September 26, 2026 in the Rivers Cemetery in Chesterfield, SC. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your favorite charity in his honor.

     The family would like to express its deepest gratitude to the incredible staff at Via Health Partners and Levine & Dickson Hospice House at Southminster for the compassionate care they provided Robert during his final days. The family is especially grateful for the way they honored Robert’s medical directives and helped to ensure that his final days were lived with comfort, dignity, and respect.

William O. Bankhead, Jr. passed away in Raleigh, NC on March 7, 2025.

No obituary is available.

Alexander Hamilton (Ham) Cooke, 85, died peacefully in his sleep on May 17, 2026. Born on January 25, 1941, in Louisville, KY he was the second of three sons of Henry Thurston and Elizabeth Hamilton Davis Cooke. Ham graduated from Eastern High School in Louisville and went on to attend and graduate from Davidson College in 1963.  After serving in the United States Army, Ham went to Vanderbilt University School of Law and graduated in 1968.

Ham was married to Eugenia (Genie) Ray Watson Cooke for 51 years until her death in 2015. They lived in Jacksonville, FL where Ham practiced law and Genie taught French.

Ham was an active member and Elder at Riverside Presbyterian Church where he also sang in the choir. He was active in the Jacksonville community, serving as President of the Jacksonville Bar Association, working on the Community Relations Commission, and volunteering his time with local civil and human rights organizations.  He was often seen in his neighborhood carrying plastic bags filled with recyclables that he collected on his daily walks.

In 2007, Ham received the Florida Bar Foundation’s Medal of Honor, the highest award that can be bestowed upon an individual by Florida’s legal profession.  He was honored for his many contributions to providing access to justice for those living in poverty, including his significant work with Jacksonville’s Habitat for Humanity affiliate, HabiJax.

Ham loved to travel, whether on the “blue highways” of this country or in any other country he could get to.  He had a collection of books that would rival any library, a reflection of his insatiable curiosity about the world and other people. He never met a stranger and never missed an opportunity to ask a question.  He will be remembered for his huge heart and easy laugh, his steadfast integrity, and his passion for justice.

In addition to his wife and parents, Ham is predeceased by his brothers Donald Davis Cooke and Graham Brown Cooke, sisters-in-law Carol Watson Croft and Sara Swann McLaughlin Watson and brother-in-law Timothy Lent Croft.

He is survived by his son Henry Thurston Cooke II and his wife Carla Naegele Cooke; his daughter Katherine Cooke Kerr and her husband William Ralph Kerr; grandchildren Christopher Davis Cooke and his wife Lacey Shaffer Cooke, Anne Hamilton Cooke, and Caroline Anderson Kerr; sister-in-law Martha Neal Nuckolls Cooke, brother-in-law Nat Erskine Watson, Jr., 8 nieces, one nephew and a whole lot of great nieces and nephews, all of whom he adored.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Davidson Trust, HabiJax, or to the nonprofit of your choice.

A memorial service will be held at 11 am on Friday, June 5 at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, with livestream available at www.covenantpresby.org/live.

Yes, he was an Eagle Scout. Sure, he graduated from Davidson University and got a Ph.D. at UNC-Chapel Hill. And OK, there were the 20 books he wrote, preceded by his extraordinary pivot from local education to the global business world in the 1980s.

But the depth of Pierce went far beyond those accolades, which are too many to cite.

His mind was hungry. He had no patience for small talk or pop culture, often showing his disdain for Philistine chit-chat by crossing his arms and pouting. He read six books at the same time, lining them with post-its and scribbling in the margins. A passionate musician, he played 35 instruments, with a special affection for recorders. His idea of a pin-up girl was Wanda Landowska, the Polish harpsichordist.

He wore a hot sauce holster to restaurants. He kept a spreadsheet detailing the best French onion soups in Charlotte, breaking them down by richness of the broth, caramelization of the onions, taste of the cheese, sour chewiness of the bread, among other categories. (The one from La Belle Helene got the top score. You’re welcome.) He made beef stroganoff on a rusty Coleman stove for a bunch of eight-year-old girls in the mountains. He recreated Timpano, a Southern Italian dish, after watching the film “Big Night,” starring Stanley Tucci. He has read all of Mr. Tucci’s books, by the way.

When a certain teenage daughter called him from jail, instead of getting angry, he told her, “You are joining a vaunted list of some of America’s greatest patriots.”

He coached the first girls’ soccer team in Charlotte, where he also helped to pioneer the city’s first progressive, inclusive education model. He refused to join country clubs in the 1970s, calling them racist and dangerously conservative. A true Tarheel, he lived for Eastern NC-style barbecue and UNC basketball. He was a regular at church not for the sermons, but for the choral music.

His community was the choir, where he met his soul mate, Jane Mitchell Howard. Together, they started a consulting group, the Center for Applied Cognitive Studies (CentACS), which was renamed when they sold it in 2017. Pierce and Jane developed a personality test called the Workplace Big Five Profile, which is now used by businesses all over the world.

Born in Kinston, NC, Pierce was the youngest of seven, who were all, on average, 20 years his senior. Having older siblings meant that he had more in common with the Greatest Generation than he did with the Boomers. When his contemporaries were rocking out to Jimi Hendrix, Pierce was blasting Bach. When they were protesting the Vietnam War, Pierce was performing military intelligence in Germany (and also playing recorder in a local chamber music group).

Family was a top priority for Pierce, who obsessively researched his ancestry and mandated reunions every other year. After a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer, he leaves behind his wife, Jane, daughter Allegra Blythe Howard Hinson (Charlotte), grandsons William Carl “Liam” Hinson V. (Greensboro), and Rowan Pierce Hinson (Asheville), daughter Hilary Howard (New York, New York); grandson Callum Kane Leftwich Murphy (New Paltz, N.Y.) granddaughter Allegra Jean Righteous Murphy (New York, N.Y.); and too many beloved cousins, nieces and nephews to name.

In 1997, Pierce’s career reached its commercial zenith when he published his book, “The Owner’s Manual for the Brain,” and Oprah Winfrey invited him on her show to discuss how to hold on to special memories in such a fast-paced, content-heavy world.

“We can stop, take a deep breath, and smell the roses,” he said. “We can stop and consciously say, ‘I want to soak this in. I want to drink deeply of this experience.'”

In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Pierce may be made to Bach Charlotte or Room in the Inn.

A memorial service will be held at 3:00 PM on Friday, March 6, 2026, at Providence United Methodist Church, 2810 Providence Road, Charlotte NC 28211. A reception will be held from 5:00 – 8:00 PM at Porcupine Provisions, 1520 East Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28203. For those unable to attend the service in person, you can view online by using this link: https://boxcast.tv/view/pierce-howard-memorial-service-zhoa527y6kxv1el1qpl6

Samuel Pinckney Hawes III, MD, known as “Hank” to many loved ones, beloved husband, father grandfather and friend passed away peacefully in his sleep on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at the age of 84, after fighting a long illness.

Born in Conway, South Carolina, on May 2, 1941, Sam grew up rooted in a close-knit community that shaped his values of kindness, humility, and dedication. He graduated from Conway High School before attending Davidson College, where he was in the Kappa Sigma fraternity, earning his degree in 1963. Committed to a life of service, he received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University in 1967.

Following medical school, Sam completed an internship in surgery at the University of Virginia from 1967 to 1969. He then served his country with honor as a Major in the United States Air Force from 1969 to 1971. After his military service, he pursued a urology residency at Duke University from 1971 to 1975. Upon completion, he joined the Hawes Urology Clinic—now Urology Specialists of the Carolinas—where he cared for patients with compassion and skill until his retirement in 2001.

He will be remembered first and foremost as a loving husband, father, and grandfather. Sam was an avid saltwater fisherman, an enthusiastic amateur radio operator, a dedicated youth baseball coach, and a passionate bluegrass musician who enjoyed playing both guitar and banjo. He carried an unmatchable sense of humor that lightened every room he entered, and he approached each of his interests with joy, curiosity, and warmth.

Most importantly, the thing he would want to be remembered for above all else was his love for Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior, with whom he is rejoicing at this very moment. His faith shaped every aspect of his life and stands as his greatest legacy.

He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Lorene Downs Hawes; his sister, Louise H. DeLoach (Harris); and his children, Samuel P. Hawes IV (Elizabeth), Matthew H. Hawes (Cathy), Wilson B. Hawes (Dana), Erica B. Queen (Matt), and A. Lake Bumgarner. He was a proud grandfather to Catherine, Wilson, Matthew, Benjamin, Elijah, Madelynn, and James.

A private family ceremony will be held, during which his ashes will be dispersed in the ocean at the sea buoy on the outgoing tide.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Wounded Warrior Project, or the charity of your choice.