Dr. Charles A. Rogers passed away peacefully at his home in the Azalea Trace retirement community in Pensacola, FL on Saturday, July 22, 2017.

A Service to celebrate his life will be held at 10:00am on Saturday, July 29, 2017 at the Chapel at WillowBrooke Court, Azalea Trace, 10100 Hillview Dr., Pensacola, FL 32514.

Charles and his wife, Joan, had retired to Pensacola over 20 years ago, where he worked part-time as a physician for the Department of Veterans Affairs until 2005. A little arithmetic, dear reader, will give you some insight into his passion and energy for medicine.

Charles was born on December 18, 1916, in Clifton, NJ. His family was adventurous: In 1922, after travelling across Canada by train, they sailed on the Empress of Asia from Vancouver to Shanghai where his father, James J. Rogers, opened one of the first American banks in China. After a few years in the Far East, the family, including mother, Wilhelmina (nee Ohlson), and older brother, Forbes, returned to New Jersey, where Charles would graduate from Rutgers University in 1939.

His childhood ambition to be a doctor was fulfilled at the University of Rochester Medical School, where he completed his studies in 1943 in time to join the US Navy. Charles served as a medical officer on an LST during D-Day and on the troop ship USS Florence Nightingale during the invasion of Okinawa. He had a formidable memory and would tell vivid stories of his naval service and childhood in Shanghai.

He and his first wife, Mary (nee Robertshaw) settled in Rochester, NY after the war, where he set up a practice in internal medicine and worked at the Strong Memorial and Genesee Hospitals. They had three children; Anne DeAnda (Victor), Martha McNeill (John) and Chris (Colleen Maloney).

Charles married a second time to Abby (nee Lane) and they had two children, Charles, Jr. and Claudia Orlando (Bruce).

After retiring from private practice, he took up a position with the Canandaigua (NY) VA Hospital. In 1979, he married a third time, to Joan (nee Watts, formerly Dickinson), an especially happy union that lasted 38 years.

Charles is survived by his wife, Joan, a resident of WillowBrooke Court at Azalea Trace, as well as all of his children and their spouses and partners, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, as well as the extended family of his wife Joan.

Charles supported many charities over his life. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his memory to UNICEF.

The family thanks the nurses of Covenant Care hospice services, all the staff at Oakbridge Terrace and Azalea Trace and doctors, David Martin and Jason Foreman of Sacred Heart Cardiology for their excellent care of Charles.