Honorable Charlie & Rose Dannelly

Charlie Smith Dannelly was born on August 13, 1924, in Bishopville, SC, to Robert Samuel Dannelly and Minnie Smith Dannelly, the third boy and youngest of seven children. He peacefully transitioned in Charlotte, NC on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, at the age of 101.

He attended Dennis High School in Bishopville, SC and graduated from Mather Academy in Camden, SC in 1944. He attended Howard University in Washington, DC and graduated summa cum laude in 1962 from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte with a Bachelor's degree, and earned a master's degree in education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1966.

From member of the ROTC at Howard University, he became a first lieutenant paratrooper with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division during the Korean War. He made 50 parachute jumps and earned the Bronze Star, a Korean Service Medal.

Later, he began a career in education as a teacher at University Park Elementary School where he soon became principal and continued to encourage discipline and achievement as principal at Starmount Elementary, Quail Hollow Junior High, Albemarle Road Junior High, and J H Gunn High School. He believed education was the pathway to freedom.

He lived a life of dedication to excellence, fairness and service to humanity, serving as a Charlotte City Councilman from 1977 to 1989, then elected to the North Carolina State Senate in 1995 for District 38, Mecklenburg County. As a City Councilman with an authoritative voice and conviction, he championed legislation that advocated for children, benefitted seniors, and the economically and socially disadvantaged. As a State Senator, he successfully legislated for two rounds of state-funded athletic scholarships allocated to 10 HBCUs in North Carolina; and created a bill that banned cellphone use while driving school buses. He was named Deputy President Pro Tempore and served on scores of civic groups until retiring in 2013.

Little known fact, he was the great grandson and grandnephew of two South Carolina Reconstruction legislators who represented Orangeburg, SC.

He was a member and/or held positions in many organizations most notably, Founder of the Black Political Caucus (BPC) of Charlotte Mecklenburg and was the KRS & District Committee Chairman of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. and a member of the Sigma Pi Phi Boule Fraternity, and a life-long member of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.

He received numerous accolades celebrating his life's work, including the "Luminary Lifetime Achievement Award," from The Charlotte Post Foundation in 2013, "Omega Psi Phi Man of the Year," given by Psi Phi Chapter in 1979, and has a 62-unit affordable housing development for the 55 & over community in Charlotte, NC, called "The Dannelly at The Catawba," named in his honor.

He was regarded as iconic, consistent and the most dapper, impeccably suited pilar in the community who made himself available to discuss issues at the historic, Excelsior Club and Club Nile while in the Senate and after retirement.

He was the devoted husband to Rose LaVerne Rhodes Dannelly for 63 years and an exemplary father to his only child, Charlie Smith Dannelly II whom stood by his side until his last breath and his daughter-in-law, Doreen Spicer-Dannelly, whom he proudly called his daughter.

Charlie Smith Dannelly was pre-deceased by siblings, Robert Dannelly Jr., George Morris Dannelly, William Charles Dannelly, Precious Ruth Dannelly, Minnie Dannelly McGirt, and Roberta Dannelly Durant. He is survived by his son, Charlie Smith Dannelly II, William Durant, Vida Durant, and Denise Dannelly.