Charles H. Gale IV

                                                  CHARLES HENRY GALE IV

Charles H Gale IV (Chuck) of Doylestown, PA passed away peacefully at home on August 5 after a hard fought battle with cancer. He was 77. He was the son of the late Charles H Gale III and Mary (Hlebanja) of Gwynedd, PA and was the husband of Barbara (Barclay) and father of Christine Gale of Doylestown and Charles H Gale V ( deceased) of Gwynedd. Chuck attended Wissahickon High School in Ambler and graduated from Delaware Valley College with a bachelor’s degree in Ornamental Horticulture, all the time working at the family business, Gale Nurseries, Inc. He worked closely with his father most of his life and then with his daughter after she graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a Masters in Landpscape Architecture. Together, they designed and built private residential gardens all around the Philadelphia area, the east coast of the United States, and a beautiful garden in Brittany, France.

Chuck was a passionate family man with a big heart and even bigger smile. He was a world traveler, helicopter pilot, skydiver ( known as Rhino to Herd members of the United Parachute Club), landscape designer, horticulturalist and entrepreneur. With Chuck’s huge personality and zest for life,he gave everything he could to his family and friends. Family adventures included walking the Inca Trail into Macchu Picchu, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro twice, twelve days rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, and traversing China, Russia, Europe, Scotland and England, Australia and New Zealand. One of his last and very memorable trips was to Madagascar with his wife and daughter and two friends.

He was a member of The Carnegie Club in Scotland for over a decade, as well as The Union League of Philadelphia and Vistage (TEC 343).he was a current Board member of Bucks Beautiful, facilitating the planting of 1.7 million daffodils all over Bucks County and also on the Board of the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown for many years, starting from its inception.

Gale Nurseries was awarded the Wilkinson Sword of Excellence from The Royal Horticultural Society for a garden in the Philadelphia Flower Show in 1985 most representative of our British Heritage. In addition, there were numerous “Best in Show” awards over the years.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Chuck is survived by his sister Nancy Granese (Claude), nephew David Granese (Marianna), their children Julia and Sebastian, and niece Angela Drakas (Michael) and children Micah and Olivia. Chuck has one grandson, Eric Boschulte-Gale of Minneapolis.

The wonderful oncology team that oversaw Chuck’s cancer journey at Penn Presbyterian was headed by Dr. Nevena Damjanov and Liz Prechtel-Dunphy CRNP.

A service and Celebration of life is scheduled for Saturday, September 26, at the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown beginning at 11:00.

In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to advance cancer research in Chuck’s memory to “Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania”, add The Fund for the Abramson Cancer Center in the memo, Penn Medicine 3535 Market Street, suite 750, Phila., PA 19104 or to Bucks Beautiful 77 S Broad St. Doylestown, PA 18901