KARL SMILEY, M.D.'s Obituary
Dr. Karl Smiley, M.D.
August 22, 1937 – October 13, 2023
Dr. Karl Smiley passed away peacefully from cancer at home on October 13, 2023, at the age of 86,
surrounded by his family. He was born to Nixon Smiley and Evelyn Clayton Smiley at Miami Jackson
Memorial Hospital, on August 22, 1937. Karl was raised in Miami, but moved to Waynesville, and
Morehead City, NC, for a short period of time when Nixon enlisted into the Marines in WW II. He and his
mother returned to Miami-Dade County after Nixon was deployed to Okinawa. Karl earned his Boy Scout
Eagle Award, graduated from Coral Gables Senior High, and Duke University, as a member of the Sigma
Chi Fraternity. He graduated from Emory University School of Medicine in 1963 in the top 10% of his class
and as vice president of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Scholastic Honor Society.
Karl met Charlotte Stoker in 1959 at First United Methodist Church of Coral Gables. They married there in
1960 and moved back to Emory. They were married for over 63 years. He interned in Houston through
the Baylor University program then completed his 4-year surgical residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital,
Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical School, in Dallas, TX. He served 2 years as Lieutenant Commander,
assistant chief of surgery at the US Public Health Service Hospital in Seattle, WA. Afterward he served a
fellowship in cardio-vascular surgery under Dr. Stanley Crawford in Houston.
In 1971 Karl began private practice as a general and vascular surgeon in Miami. He was Chief of Surgery,
Chief of Staff, and on the Board of Governors for Doctors’ Hospital, Coral Gables. Karl also operated
(Variety/Miami Childrens) Nicklaus Children’s, South Miami, and Baptist Hospitals. He retired from surgery
in 2002. He then served as a member of the Board of Directors for Baptist Health South Florida Doctors
Hospital. He continued interpreting blood flow studies at BHSF Doctors Hospital for the non-invasive
vascular lab, which he founded in 1975.
Karl served as President of the Greater Miami Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, the Miami
Medical Form, and the Board of Directors of the Montgomery Botanical Center. He was a member of the
Board of Trustees at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens and President of the Board of Governors of the
Dr. John T. MacDonald Foundation Health Systems, which gave grants to medically oriented non-profit
groups. Their largest two fundings went to establishing school-based health clinics in the North Miami
Beach area with the UM Dept. of Pediatrics and the JTMD Department of Human Genetics at the UM
School of Medicine.
Karl enjoyed with his family boating, waterskiing, botany, hiking, golfing, skiing, traveling, volunteering at the Montgomery Botanical Center, and vacationing in destinations centered around nature and historical sites.
Karl is survived by his devoted wife Charlotte, their four loving sons and daughter: Tom (Betsy), Scott
(MaryAnne), Mark (Elizabeth), and Laura (Jerry) Bryant; and his 5 grandchildren, Kyle Smiley, Brandon
(Julia) Smiley and Jake, Anna, and Isabel Bryant. He is pre-deceased by infant grandson Christian Jackson
Smiley.
Service will be held at First United Methodist Church of Coral Gables on November 12 at 2:30 PM. In lieu
of flowers donations may be made to Montgomery Botanical Center,
www.Montgomerybotanical.org/support.
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