Charles Lee Dickinson III

Charlie Dickinson 1955-2025

Charles Lee Dickinson, III, died on November 19th at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse. He was 70 years old.

Charles (Charlie) was born in Ithaca, New York, the first born of his parents’ four children. His parents, Charles Lee Dickinson and Jane Genung Dickinson predeceased him.

Charlie spent the early part of his childhood in the small hamlet of Ludlowville, New York, where he learned to swim at the base of a grand waterfall and spent hours exploring Salmon Creek, which ran through the family’s back yard.

At the age of 11, the family moved to a dairy farm in nearby Freeville. As a boy, Charlie fished in the summer and – in the winter -- trapped muskrats on Fall Creek. Charlie and his friends spent many hours ramming through the family’s pastureland on his noisy dirt bike. He later graduated to motorcycles; Harley Road Kings were his bike of choice.

Charlie attended Dryden schools and the Cascadilla School in Ithaca, after which he joined the Navy. After his time in the military, Charlie worked installing telephone systems -- at Cornell University, and then throughout the South East. He lived in Bethesda, Maryland and also made a home for several years in Jacksonville, Florida. Because of declining health, he moved back north to his hometown in 2020, where he reconnected with some of his local friends and family members.

Charlie was an avid amateur musician, very proud of his collection of beautiful electric guitars.

He was a loud and lively opponent of everything having to do with the Trump administration, a proud progressive, and, in his later years, an unrepentant iconoclast.

He is survived by his three sisters, Rachel, Anne and Amy Dickinson; his children, Benjamin Dickinson, Ian Dickinson, and Ashley Dickinson Claggett; his grandchildren Jade, James, and Michael Claggett, and Autumn and Madeline Dickinson.

He is also survived by his aunt, Anne Dickinson Murray, as well as nieces, nephews, and many cousins.

The family wishes to acknowledge a special debt of gratitude to Joanne Cordner of Homer, New York, Charlie’s companion and friend for many years, who provided invaluable and tender care during the last several years of his life.

Rachel, Charlie, Amy, Anne

A memorial service isn’t currently planned, but anyone who wishes to remember Charlie should spend a few minutes listening to Pink Floyd … and then -- get on your Harley and ride.

He’d like that.