Dr. Thomas Upshaw Tuten

1951 - 2021

Dr. Thomas Upshaw Tuten
January 20, 1951 - November 29, 2021
Anderson, South Carolina - Thomas Upshaw Tuten, M.D., 70, died Monday, November 29 at AnMed Health, surrounded by his loving family.
Born in Atlanta, he was a son of the late Lt. Col. Wilson Parker "Red" Tuten and Elizabeth "Libby" Upshaw Tuten. As the son of a military family, he grew up throughout the United States and Europe, including England and Greece, graduating high school in Yorktown, Virginia. He spent summers with his father's family in Hampton, S.C. and his mother's family in Cartersville, Georgia and maintained these roots throughout his life.
Dr. Tuten graduated from Emory University with a degree in chemistry. He earned a master's in health physics at Emory and worked in the nuclear industry for three years. While at Emory, he met his wife of 46 years, Susan Meltzer Tuten, in a business management class. An unlikely pair, Tom and Sue have been successful individually, but together forged a formidable team ready for any challenge.
After two years of marriage, he began his second career in medicine. He graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina in 1981. Dr. Tuten completed radiology residency and an interventional radiology fellowship at Emory, where his mentors included Andreas Roland Gruntag, who pioneered the angioplasty procedure for cardiovascular patients. After completing his fellowship he joined the Emory faculty.
Dr. Tuten founded Diagnostic Radiology of Anderson in 1987, a practice he cultivated over 34 years into a group as large as eleven radiologists. He has served as president of the Anderson County Medical Society, President of the South Carolina Radiological Society, and served on the Alumnae Board of the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Tuten performed his final interventional radiology procedures in the days before his death.
Tom cherished practicing radiology alongside his son, Dr. Alex Tuten, who joined him in 2014. He enjoyed frequently visiting his daughters in Portland, Oregon where his daughter Jane practices internal medicine and Caroline "Buggy" owns and operates a vintage boutique.
Tom's childlike curiosity, spontaneity, and humor allowed him to establish long-lasting and meaningful friendships with those he encountered, impacting many lives through medicine and his personal life. He was known for his laughter that filled the room, his love of world history - especially military and World War II - and his delight in sharing his knowledge of history with others. He lived a beautiful and adventurous life filled with family, friends and travel. He was a collector of war memorabilia, cars, art, and BMW motorcycles. His collection of lawn care equipment was also extensive and used with abandon at his homes in Anderson and Cashiers, N.C.
Survivors include his wife of the home; his children, Thomas Alexander "Alex" Tuten, M.D. (Keri) of Anderson; Jane Adelle Tuten Ware, M.D. (James) of Portland, Oregon; and Caroline Amelia "Buggy" Tuten of Portland, Oregon; five grandchildren who knew him as "Grumpa," Wilson Alexander Tuten, August Elle Tuten and Thomas Frazier Tuten of Anderson; and Noam Whalen Ware and Nora Lillian Ware of Portland, Oregon; a brother, Wilson Parker "Bill" Tuten of Aiken; sisters Lois Adele Tuten of Bradenton, Fla. and Anne Tuten Wilmeth of Anderson; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church of Anderson, with the Rev. Dr. Dennis Tedder officiating. Internment will follow at a later date with family only in attendance at Sandy Run Cemetery in Hampton County.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to your local NPR station, in memory of Dr. Thomas U. Tuten: https://www.npr.org/donations/support
Sullivan-King Mortuary
www.sullivanking.com