Charles Mikell

1941 - 2013

Judge Charles B. Mikell - SAVANNAH - Judge Charles B. Mikell, age 71, died November 4, 2013 at home of complications of multiple myeloma, under the care of Hospice Savannah. He was born in Savannah on December 25, 1941. He attended public schools and graduated from Savannah Country Day School in 1959 and from Princeton University in 1963. He attended graduate school in European History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated from the University of Georgia, School of Law, with honors, in 1976. Between Princeton and graduate school, Judge Mikell served as an Army Intelligence Officer, leaving active duty as a captain in 1969. After service in Massachusetts, California and Germany, he was stationed for one year at Pleiku in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, where he was attached to the Central Intelligence Agency, and later advised South Vietnamese forces. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Republic of Vietnam's Gallantry Cross, First Class. After law school, he began the private practice of law in Savannah as an associate and later a partner with the firm of Brannen, Wessels, and Searcy. He specialized in litigation, especially insurance, products liability and architects and engineers malpractice defense. He also practiced in South Carolina in the field of trusts and estates. In 1985 he was appointed Judge of the State Court of Chatham County by Governor Joe Frank Harris. He was elected to that post in 1986 and served as Chief Judge of that court from 1990-1992. He was President of the Georgia Council of State Court Judges from 1989-1990. In 1992 he was elected Judge of Superior Court of the Eastern Judicial Circuit (Chatham County), and was re-elected in 1996. He served as Administrative Judge of the First Judicial District, a member of the Judicial Council of Georgia and the Executive Committee of the Georgia Council of Superior Court Judges. In 2000 he was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia by Governor Roy Barnes, was elected to that post in 2002 and re-elected in 2008. To serve on that court, he commuted weekly to Atlanta. He served as Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals in 2011-2012 and retired in that August. His community activities included service as vice-president and later chairman of the board of the King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation, a museum of African History and Culture, president of the Neighbor-to-Neighbor Justsice Center, a non-profit mediation center, and service of the local boards of United Way, the Arthritis Foundation, the Boy Scouts, and the Devereaux Foundation, a national foundation for troubled youth. He taught Sunday School, served as a vestryman, and sang in the choir at Christ Church. He especially enjoyed coaching basketball in the eight-and-under league at the Victor B. Jenkins Memorial Boys Club. He was given Special Recognition from his service by the King-Tisdell Foundation in 2007. IN 2013 he became an honorary Diplomate of the American Board of Trial Advocates. In 2006 he was awarded the chief Justice Thomas O. Marshall Professionalism award by the State Bar of Georgia. In 2011 he was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the NAACP. He is survived by his wife of thirty-three years, Julia LeCraw Mikell, M.D., three sons, Charles B. Mikell, III, M.D. (Chuck) and his wife Isadora Botwinick Mikell, M.D., John LeCraw Mikel, M.D. and his wife Jane Lancaster Mikell, Samuel LeCraw Mikell, a brother and sister-in-law, Oswald Lightsey Mikell, M.D. and Lilly Mikell, and two grandsons, John , Jr., and James. He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Claudia Mikell. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Savannah, the Commerce Club of Atlanta, the Lawyers Club of Atlanta, the Old War Horse Lawyers' Club, the Princeton Clubs of Savannah and New York, and the Army and Navy Clubs of Washington, D.C., the Society of Colonial Wars and the Sons of Revolution. The family wishes to acknowledge the outstanding care of his oncologists, Dr. O. George Negrea of Savannah, and Dr. Sagar Lonial of Emory University, Atlanta; as well as longtime driver, bodyguard and friend, Herman Blackshear and secretary and friend for over thirty years, Mrs. Linda King. The family will receive friends from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Thursday, November 7, 2013 at Fox and Weeks Funeral Directors, Hodgson Chapel. Funeral Service will be at Christ Church Episcopal at 11:00 a.m., Friday, November 8, 2013 with private burial at Bonaventure Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Frank P. Brannen, William T. Daniel, jr., Marshall H. Earl, jr., John J. Ellington, Otto F. Feil, Donald Kole, Robert O. McCloud, jr., Daniel O'Day, Carl S. Pedigo, Brent J. Savage, and Steven E. Scheer. Honorary Pallbearers will be the judges of the Georgia Court of Appeals. Remembrances may be sent to the King-Tisdell Foundation, 514 E. Huntington Street, Savannah, GA 31401; or the St. Joseph's/Candler Foundation, Heart-Lung Building, Candler Hospital, 5353 Reynolds Street, Savannah, GA 31405; or the Devereaux Foundation, 1291 Stanley Road NW, Kennesaw, GA 30152. Please sign our on line guest book at www.foxandweeks.com Savannah Morning News November 7, 2013 Please sign our Obituary Guest Book at savannnahnow.com/obituaries.