Charles Kutner
CPT in 603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Staff
Born 1900 in Poland, Died 1992
Other residence(s): Wilson, PA; Camden, NJ; Cherry Hill, NJ
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: physician
College education before the war: Dickinson College; Univ. of Maryland School of Medicine
Charlie Kutner was born on December 7, 1900 in Poland, and immigrated to the US with his parents and four older brothers in 1905. The family settled in Camden, NJ where Charlie's father operated a bakery, and welcomed two more sons in the following years.
Charlie graduated from Camden High School in 1919 and then from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA in 1923. He went on to study at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, graduating in 1927. A week later, on June 11, 1927, he married Leah Friedlander in Washington, DC; the couple had met on a streetcar in Baltimore.
In April, 1930 Charlie and Leah were living in Wilson, NJ. But later that year they moved back to Camden, where the young doctor would practice medicine for nearly 60 years. In the early 1930s they also became the parents of two daughters: Sura (Sue) and Ruth.
Charlie registered for the draft on February 16, 1942 and enlisted a few months later, on May 27, 1942. By the spring of 1943 he was attending the Field Service School for medical officers in Carlisle, PA. He graduated from that program in May, 1943 and served as an Army doctor in Europe for the rest of the war, though the unit is unknown. He was discharged from the Army with the rank of CPT on September 30, 1945, and returned to Camden.
In 1946 he bought a condemned three-story building in Camden to serve as a residence and office. He demolished the deteriorated third floor, and converted the second floor to a family residence and the first floor to an office (leasing a second first floor office to a fellow physician). He was also on the staff at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.
In his spare time he became an ardent golfer, and was a founding member of the Woodcrest Country Club in Cherry Hill, NJ. He was also a member of the American Medical Association, the Medical Society of New Jersey, and the Camden County Medical Society.
In 1977, Charlie was recognized with the Golden Merit Award from the Medical Society of New Jersey—given to those physicians who were still practicing medicine 50 years after graduating from medical school! At 76 he held office hours three afternoons a week, "holding on to patients who are as old as he is," said his wife.
Leah died in 1989. Charlie retired from medicine the same year and moved to Cherry Hill where both of his daughters lived. He died on April 9, 1992 and is buried at Crescent Burial Park in Pennsauken, NJ.
Photo:
1927 University of Maryland yearbook
Sources:
1910 census
1920 census
1927 marriage record
1930 census
1940 census
1942 draft card
1942 article in the Courier-Post (Camden NJ) about his going to the 603rd at Fort Meade
https://www.newspapers.com/image/479533410/?terms=charles%20kutner&match=1
1943 article in the Morning-Post (Camden NJ) about his medical/military training
https://www.newspapers.com/image/447724561/?terms=charles%20kutner&match=1
1950 census
1950 article in the Courier-Post (Camden, NJ) about his golf game
https://www.newspapers.com/image/180172188/?terms=charles%20kutner&match=1
1954 article in the Courier-Post (Camden, NJ) about his rehabbing a residence/medical office building
https://www.newspapers.com/image/180133278/?terms=charles%20kutner
1977 article in the Courier-Post (Camden, NJ) about older physicians
https://www.newspapers.com/image/182699989/?terms=charles%20kutner&match=1
1992 VA death record
1992 obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
1992 obituary in the Courier-Post (Camden NJ)
1992 Social Security death index
1992 Find a Grave record
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/240121709/charles-kutner