Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Abeles, Charles Taussig March 15, 1980 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Donna Bluemink http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008395 February 23, 2013, 11:12 am Virginian-Pilot, March 16, 1980 NORFOLK - Charles Taussig Abeles, 88, of 1307 Daniel Ave., retired general solicitor of Seaboard Airline Railway and former director of the Norfolk Foundation, died Saturday in his home. A native of St. Louis, he was the husband of Mrs. Sally Pope Taylor Abeles. Abeles, a graduate of Harvard Law School, engaged in the general practice of law, speaializing in corporate law. He joined Seaboard in 1919 and became general solicitor and head of its law department in 1956, holding those positions until his retirement in 1961. Later he assisted in the merger of Seaboard and Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, which was effected in 1973. In that year he became the first full-time executive director of Norfolk Foundation, an organization known for its charitable and educational gifts. He relinguished that post in 1978 but remained active in the foundation. Abeles, who lived in Norfolk over 60 years, was president of the Norfolk Forum from 1945 to 1979. He served as a member of the Lay Board of DePaul Hospital and a director of Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Community Concerts Association, Servicemen's Club of Norfolk, and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He was formerly a trustee of Hermitage Foundation and treasurer of Norfolk Historical Foundation. As chariman of the Norfolk Commission on Higher Education in the early 1950s, he helped initiate the movement to change the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary into a permanent, independent educational institution, Old Dominion University. As an undergraduate of Harvard, Abeles was the first coxswain to serve as captain of the crew. In 1914 he was coxswain of the Union Boat Club crew when it was runner-up in the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley, England, Regatta. He was a member of Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Norfolk Yacht and Country Club, Virginia Club, Norfolk German Club, and the Newcomen Society, as well as the American, Virginia, and Missouri bar associations. Other survivors include a daughter, Mrs. Sally Abeles Gran of New York; a son, Charles Calvert Abeles of Washington, D.C.; a brother, Alfred T. Abeles of Dearfield, Ill.; and four grandchildren. A funeral will be held Monday at noon in Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd by the Rev. James W. Thompson. Burial will be in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Norfolk, with H. D. Oliver Funeral Apts, Norfolk, in charge. Memorial donations may be made to a favorite charity. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/norfolkcity/obits/a/abeles733gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/ File size: 3.1 Kb