Paying Tribute to the Brothers We’ve Recently Lost
Please join us in commemorating the lives of the brothers we’ve lost within the last year. They will be dearly missed by family, friends, and their Sigma Nu brothers.
If you know of any others who passed away since August 2016, but are not featured on this list, you can inform us of their passing by submitting an update.
Charles Hicks ’58
Dr. Charles M. Hicks, a beloved Wilmington pediatrician who helped launch the neonatal intensive care unit at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, died on February 16, 2017 at his home near Clarkton. He was 80 and had suffered from prostate cancer for many years.
A Wilmington native, Charles Montgomery Hicks was born Aug. 4, 1936, the son of Eugene Clifton Hicks, an Atlantic Coast Line employee, and Josie Wright Hicks. The Rt. Rev. Thomas H. Wright, longtime Episcopal bishop of Eastern North Carolina, was his uncle. Hicks grew up in St. James Episcopal Church. He graduated from New Hanover High School in 1964 and from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1958. He earned his medical degree at the UNC School of Medicine, served his internship at Roper Hospital in Charleston, S.C., then completed a residency in pediatrics in Chapel Hill.
After serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Gordon, Ga., Hicks returned to Wilmington where he entered practice at Babies’ Hospital, the famous pediatric clinic near Wrightsville Beach. In 1969, he and Dr. Wilbur P. Matthews partnered to found The Pediatric Center, located in a newly constructed building at 1914 Glen Meade Road.
John Rees ’62
John “Jack” Phillip Rees, 76, of Daytona Beach, Florida passed away surrounded by his immediate family on August 21, 2016 at the Halifax Health – Hospice Care Center, Edgewater, Florida. He was born on April 6, 1940 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the late Jack and Margaret Rees.
He graduated from the University of North Carolina with a BA in Broadcasting in 1962 and was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity. He was a Veteran of the United States Navy and a proud supporter of the Wounded Warrior Project. Jack worked in Mortgage Banking/Real Estate Sales, and was a member of the VFW and the Masons. Jack was a passionate golfer and fisherman and he loved watching sports.
He is survived by his son, John Phillip Rees Jr. and his wife Karla; and his daughter, Michele Charry and her husband Jorge. He leaves behind his beloved grandchildren, Madisen Charry, Jeff Reese, Jordyn Reese, Alina Charry, Ariana Charry, Jillian Rees, and Jackson Rees; and his cat, Buzz. Jack was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Sarah Margaret Rees.
