Skottowe Bellinger Fishburne Jr., MD

COLUMBIA – Dr. Skottowe Bellinger Fishburne Jr., age 81, of Columbia, died at his home on Wednesday, May 31, 2017. There will be a graveside service at Elmwood Cemetery and Gardens on Saturday, June 3, 2017 at 11:00 a.m.

Skottowe is survived by his wife of almost 57 years, Ann Luce Fishburne; his daughters, Marian Fishburne Soule (Rob) and Caroline Fishburne Fox (Eric); his grandchildren, Skottowe Bellinger Fishburne Fox and Margaret Ann Fox of Conway, and his sister, Elizabeth Fishburne Irwin of Spartanburg. Skottowe was predeceased by his parents and his sister, Rachel Dabney of Atlanta. He also leaves behind his sister and brother-in-law, May and Marshall Ramsey; Lynn B. Luce (widow of the late Dr. William F. Luce Jr.), and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews. He was a member of Washington Street United Methodist Church, where his family has attended services since 1890.

Son of Dr. Skottowe Bellinger Fishburne Sr., and Bernice Claire Pollok, Skottowe was born December 21, 1935 in Columbia. He attended Emily Douglas kindergarten, Schneider Grade School, and Hand Junior High, before graduating from Dreher High School in 1953. Growing up in the Shandon neighborhood, Skottowe was a mischievous boy who orchestrated clandestine pool tournaments in his mother’s basement. He made friends easily and for life.

Skottowe earned a degree in Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics from the University of South Carolina, graduating in 1957. While at USC, he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He then attended the Medical College of South Carolina, graduating with honors in 1961, as his father had done in 1900. While there, he was a member of the Alpha Kappa Kappa social fraternity, as well as the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. Afterwards, he interned at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.

After his internship, he volunteered for the US Navy and was stationed with the Fleet Marine Force in California. Attached to the Ready Battalion of the F.M.F., and just prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Skottowe thought he would have a chance to visit his family in Columbia. However, he was flown from California to Guantanamo Bay, and served as a battalion surgeon, where he remained until the crisis was resolved, earning the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. And he never had a chance to unpack that blue sport coat.

Following discharge from the Navy, he completed a first-year internal medicine residency at Emory University in Atlanta and a second year of residency at the Medical College of Virginia. He then took a two-year fellowship in Hematology with a grant from the National Institutes of Health. While there, Skottowe was associated with the early studies in treatment of childhood acute leukemia, and with the early drug treatment of Hodgkin’s disease.

Returning to Columbia in 1969, he began the practice of Hematology and Oncology at the Columbia Clinic and was the only practicing oncologist in the city for several years. During his practice, Skottowe was involved with hematology, hematological, and cancer studies and protocols through his association with the National Cancer Institute and the Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He was a member of the American Society of Oncology and the American Association of Cancer Research. He left private practice in 1980, and was appointed an associate professor of Neuropsychiatry at the University of South Carolina Medical School. He was on the staff at the Veteran’s Hospital in Columbia for 18 years, retiring in 1999. During this period, Skottowe was a speaker at several White House conferences on substance abuse and was a co-author of several papers on the same subject.

When he retired, he delighted in travelling to all corners of the world with his close friends and family, and always returned to his sanctuary by the sea and in the creeks, where he was happiest when the blue fish were running in the North Inlet.

Throughout his life, Skottowe taught us that real men travel, fish, garden, read, love, laugh, and parent Standard Poodles. In fact, Skottowe was such a loving and doting pet owner that friends often said that when they died they wanted to come back as one of the Fishburne dogs.

Memorials may be made to Washington Street United Methodist Church, 1401 Washington St., Columbia, SC 29209 or Epworth Children’s Home, PO Box 50466, Columbia, SC 29250 or a charity of one's choice.

And now, as he said when his daughter’s wedding was beginning to wind down; “We need to wrap this up now. People want to go fishing”.