Star News Article: CHARLES MONTGOMERY HICKS
Dr. Charles M. Hicks, a beloved Wilmington pediatrician who helped launch the neonatal intensive care unit at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, died Thursday evening 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 1954 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.
Pediatricians were few in the Wilmington area back then, StarNews editorial page editor Scott Nunn noted in a 2016 column, so generations of Wilmington residents were firsts treated by Dr. Hicks.
"He was level-headed and very pleasant to work with," said Dr. Peter Zack, a longtime colleague. "The mothers loved him, because he listened, and he explained things without using big words." In an often-stressful environment, Hicks was a calming presence, Zack said.
Bonnie Brown, executive director of the New Hanover/Pender County Medical Society, said that Hicks' kindness and magnanimity "surrounded him like a giant circle."
Hicks was a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a past president of the New Hanover/Pender Medical Society. He helped initiate the NICU unit at New Hanover Regional when it was still New Hanover Memorial Hospital.
In 1962, Hicks married Frances Elizabeth Haynes; that marriage ended in 1979. In 1989, he married Donna Evans. After his retirement in 2008, the couple operated Meadowsweet, a large horse farm outside Clarkton in Bladen County. Hicks remained active and was bedridden for only the last two days of his life, Brown said.
Survivors include his wife, three daughters and two grandchildren.
The family will hold a graveside service at 2 p.m. Feb. 25 at Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington. A Celebration of Life for friends and family will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. March 24 at the Seapath Yacht club, 330 Causeway Drive in Wrightsville Beach. Those who come will be urged to share "Charlie" stories.