Charles Kerr

Charles Kerr was born into poverty as the son of an oil field worker but earned an academic scholarship to Yale University and later graduated from Baylor Medical School. He interned at the US Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia and served aboard the USS Ethan Allen as a medical corps lieutenant for three years. After leaving the Navy, he completed his psychiatric residency at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York.

Kerr and his family settled in Tucson, Arizona where he established a psychiatric practice and was on staff at the University of Arizona Medical School. He introduced marital and sex therapy to the city in the 1970s and helped train over 150 psychiatric residents.

Kerr had run track in high school and got back into running in the mid-1970s. He eventually competed in the Boston and New York Marathons, among many others. He was one of the founding members of a running club that eventually became the South Arizona Roadrunners Club. The highlight of his running career came when he was one of 52 runners picked to carry the torch from Virginia to Lake Placid, NY during the Olympic Torch Relay. Further, Kerr was chosen by his fellow runners to have the honor of being the final Torch Bearer who lit the Olympic Flame at the Opening Ceremony.