Charles Homer Combs died on November 19, 2020, aged 55, at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. He was born on July 20, 1965 to Helen and Homer Combs of Trenton, Ohio by way of Quicksand, KY. He graduated from Edgewood High School in Trenton, had a BA in English Literature from Oberlin College, and an MA and MEd from Columbia University in Applied Linguistics.

Charles came from a family of teachers, and worked in education most of his life. He taught English in Japan for more than a decade, ESL at the Professional Business College in NYC, and Second Language Acquisition courses at CUNY Hunter College.

Charles will be remembered for his astonishing photographic memory, as an avid reader, and a birder. He appreciated high and low culture, enjoying weekly opera, ballet and theater performances in New York City as much as dancing to ’80s music and reading celebrity gossip. Charles loved to travel and was never happier than when on an overseas adventure or taking a long road trip across the US. Charles was an out gay man before it was culturally accepted.

Charles is survived by his brother John Combs, his adopted sister Béatrice Turpin, adopted mother Gunilla Haac, and former partners Robert Fyke and Masaru Suzuki as well as a large group of friends on four continents. He was much beloved by many and will be missed!

Charles was an organ donor and left the gift of sight to a grateful recipient. A donation can be made to the National Audubon Society at https://www.audubon.org/ in the memory of Charles Combs.

“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” – Emma Goldman