Horry Heriot Kerrison

Horry H. Kerrison, M.D.

CHARLESTON – Horry Heriot Kerrison of Charleston found peace with the Lord on Friday, January 7, 2022. Relatives and friends are invited to attend his Funeral Service at 2:00 PM, Tuesday, January 11, 2022, at St. Philip’s Church, 142 Church Street, followed by a reception in the parish hall. The family will receive friends between 5:00 & 7:00 PM Monday evening at the James A. McAlister Funeral Home, 1620 Savannah Highway. A graveside service for family will follow at a later date.

Born in Charleston on July 9, 1933, a son of George Lamb Buist Kerrison and Hermena Legare Kerrison, Horry graduated from The Citadel in 1955 and earned his Medical Doctor degree from the Medical College of South Carolina in 1959. He met the love of his life, Dorothy Lea Barnwell, on a blind date to the April 1960 Carolina Cup and married her by September 3rd. Horry then earned his graduate medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1961 and completed his Ophthalmology residency at Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1963.

Upon completion, he immediately returned to Charleston with Dottie to raise their three sons, Horry Heriot Kerrison, Jr., John Barnwell Kerrison and Lea Barnwell Kerrison. Horry developed and maintained a private ophthalmology practice until his retirement in 2009. He also served as a physician in the United States Navy from 1967-69, attaining the rank of Commander, and as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina. In honor of his service and that of his brother, Legare, the Charleston ophthalmic community funded the Kerrison Endowed Lecture, which annually attracts world renowned ophthalmologists to lecture both students and physicians at MUSC’s Storm Eye Institute.

Horry cherished membership in The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of South Carolina, which he served as Governor from 1984-86 and Deputy Governor General from 1989-90. He served as Surgeon General to the General Society from 1987-96, when the General Society recognized him as Life member Gentleman of Council and he became a Fellow of the Samuel Victor Constant Society.

Horry also joyously maintained memberships in The Charleston Club, South Carolina Society, Hibernian Society, Carolina Yacht Club and Bachelors Society of Charleston, Past President.

Surviving Horry are his sons, John and Lea and three daughters-in-law he loved as his own, Elizabeth Pierpoint Kerrison, Marnie Lewis Kerrison and Hunter Harmon Kerrison. Horry is also survived by eight grandchildren, Dorothy Adair Kerrison, Elizabeth MacQueen Kerrison, Horry Heriot Kerrison III, Alexandra Jane Kerrison, Caroline Hermena Kerrison, John Barnwell Kerrison, Jr., Legare Elizabeth Kerrison and Harmon Lea Kerrison as well as one great-granddaughter, Evelyn Adair McCafferty.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in his honor to St. Philip’s Church, 142 Church Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29401.