Charles R Slater

Charles Raymond Slater

August 22, 1958 – August 15, 2026

Charles Raymond Slater "Charlie", 67, passed away peacefully on August 15, 2026, leaving behind a remarkable legacy of invention, adventure, creativity, and an extraordinary zest for life.

Charles was born in Tallahassee, Florida, on August 22, 1958, to Charles Augustus "Chuck" Slater and Vivian Linler Slater, both of whom predeceased him. He was also preceded in death by his beloved sister, Cynthia "Cindy" Slater. He is now reunited with them, and with the family members who went before him.

Charles moved to Fort Lauderdale when he was three years old and grew up in South Florida. Even as a young boy, he had an uncommon curiosity and an instinctive need to understand how things worked.

While attending South Plantation High School, Charles was already chasing his interests in every direction. He rode a race bike to and from school and competed with his friends, planting the seeds of a lifelong love of cycling. He and a few close friends each owned their own VW Bugs and Porsche 914s, which they tinkered with constantly, an early sign of the passion for cars and speed that would follow him for the rest of his life. During this time, he also competed in model airplane meets, where he met some of the brilliant, curious minds who would later become his partners in building Symbiosis.

At 14, Charles built a terrarium tool kit for his mother, a small project that marked the beginning of an inventive streak that would one day transform the field of minimally invasive surgery.

At 17, Charles earned his pilot's license. His fascination with machines, speed, flight, and engineering had started early, and he flew both model and real aircraft from a young age.

In his early twenties, Charles built his own race car and competed in the legendary Sebring 12 Hours, beginning a lifelong passion for motorsports. He went on to compete in some of the world's most celebrated endurance races, including the Daytona 24 Hours, the Le Mans 24 Hours, and the Sebring 12 Hours. Remarkably, he did this as a non-professional driver, racing wheel to wheel with professionals, and he returned to compete at Le Mans not once but several times, a distinction very few amateur drivers can claim. He also raced in Adelaide, Australia, where he took first place in the 2000 "Race of the Millennium." Charles became one of the leading Porsche Cup racers in the United States, ranking fifth nationally and fifteenth in the world. His love of racing eventually led him to acquire IMSA, the sanctioning body for endurance racing. He later sold the organization in 1996 to Roberto Müller and Andy Evans.

Also in his early twenties, Charles pursued his interest in space by taking an astronomy course at Broward Community College. That curiosity stayed with him for life, and he later acquired a spacesuit as part of his own dream of attempting a space jump. That suit was eventually purchased by Sir Richard Branson and worn in the setting of a world record, a remarkable link between Charles's imagination and the adventures that followed.

The same inventive spirit that built a terrarium kit at 14 and forged friendships at model airplane meets became the foundation of Charles's career in the medical-device industry. Together with the friends he'd met years earlier, Kevin Smith, Tom Bales, and Bill Box, he founded Symbiosis, which grew into one of the significant medical-device companies of its era before being sold to American Home Products. Charles went on to become a prolific inventor, holding hundreds of patents involving surgical instruments and medical technology. Among his inventions were the Herculize Syringe, biopsy forceps, and stent-related technologies developed for Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson, many of which are still used in medical practice today. He later founded Slater Endoscopy, a company that continues to manufacture devices based on his inventions and vision. For Charles, invention was never just business. It was about solving problems, imagining what didn't yet exist, and figuring out how to make it real.

His curiosity extended well beyond engineering and medicine. Charles had a deep love of art and collected important works by artists including M.C. Escher, Romero Britto, and Peter Max. He was also an accomplished artist himself, he was talented in oil pastels, designing jewelry and furniture and constantly creating with his hands and his imagination.

Charles lived by the belief that life was meant to be experienced. He was a licensed pilot, a skydiver, a free diver, and spearfisherman. He even had an adventure he shared with Karin alongside legendary shark experts Rodney Fox and Stan Waterman. He remained a passionate as a cyclist throughout his life. He loved cars, speed, travel, the ocean, art, design, engineering, and anything that offered something new. He had countless hobbies because, to Charles, there was always something else to discover. Throughout his life, he came to know many extraordinary people, and he was remarkable in his own right, yet he carried it all with genuine humility.

Charles also had a deep love for celebration. He was known for his parties, his generosity in travel, and his gift for making sure everyone felt included, and those qualities gave friends and family countless great memories. He loved spearfishing and free diving in Bimini, Bahamas, and he was famous for his New Year's Eve parties. In one especially memorable act of generosity, he paid for dozens of family members and friends to travel to Australia together for an unforgettable trip.

In 1997, Charles married Karin Kelts Slater, and that same year the two of them began creating a botanical garden together at their home in South Florida. What began as a shared passion grew into a seven acre collection of palms and tropical trees gathered from around the world. At its height, the garden held more than 200 species of palms, including some extinct in the wild or endangered. The garden was an expression of Charles himself: wildly ambitious, curious, beautiful, unconventional, and alive. It will be missed almost as much as the man who created it.

Despite having divorced in 2011, Charles and Karin raised three children: Morgan Charles Slater, Sorin Augustus Slater, and Jolie Eva Slater, who will carry his memory and legacy forward. Charles is also survived by his first cousin, Suzanne Duff, her son Marshall Mills, and her daughter, Rachel Bartee, as well as his cousins Joseph and Shelly Allore and their daughters, Amanda and Kristen, all of whom shared a close bond with him. He was predeceased by his uncle Solon Slater.

Those who knew Charles will remember many different sides of him: the inventor, the racer, the entrepreneur, the man who was perpetually fulfilling extraordinary experiences. He was strong willed and could be stubborn, and those who were closest to him knew that wasn't always easy. But beyond the accomplishments and adventures, those closest to Charles will remember the laughter, the stories, energy, and life experiences they shared. His adventurous nature was infectious and boredom was simply not something Charles believed in. He embraced life with enormous curiosity and an appetite for experience and he encouraged those around him to chase life with both hands.

Charles Slater was in every sense, one of a kind. He lived an unconventional life, followed his curiosity wherever it led, and left behind success, inventions, companies, works of art, gardens, stories, and, most importantly, a family and people whose lives were changed by knowing him.

To everyone who knew and loved Charles: thank you for letting him bring joy, comfort, and growth into your lives, in good times and hard times alike. He touched many lives, known and unknown to us, and his family is grateful to everyone who shared in that journey with him.

His was a life that could never be described as ordinary. And it will not be forgotten.

Fly high Charlie