Robert Pinckney Obituary

Robert Pinckney IV CHARLESTON - Robert Howe Pinckney IV, age 66, died on February 20, 2025 in Charleston, SC of esophageal cancer. The relatives and friends are invited to attend his funeral services at 2:00 pm on Thursday, February 27th at St. Phillip's Church, 142 Church Street, Charleston SC. Burial will be private. Bob Pinckney was born on December 25, 1958 in Griffin, Georgia, the son of Robert Howe Pinckney III and Kathleen Ethridge Weldon Pinckney of Jackson, Georgia. Bob graduated with honors from Jackson High School in 1977 and the University of Georgia in 1982, where he was inducted into multiple honor societies, including Phi Kappa Phi, Blue Key, Gridiron and ODK, and served as president of Mortarboard. He next attended Harvard Business School, graduating with an MBA in 1986. After Harvard, Bob moved to Atlanta and gained invaluable experience with the John Portman Companies. These experiences launched his career as a serial entrepreneur in Mexico, where he identified and connected United States investors with local opportunities, and in the US, most notably with Network Telco in Houston and Evoshield in Athens, Georgia. The capstone of Bob's professional work began ten years ago when he was invited to teach a one semester class in the emerging academic field of entrepreneurship at the University of Georgia. The class proved the power of "practicing entrepreneurs growing promising entrepreneurs", and within months, UGA established a university-wide certificate program in Entrepreneurship. It was housed in the Terry College of Business, but open to students of any major, with Bob named as the director of the program. Tapping into his personal network, Bob brought in coaches, mentors and donors from all types of businesses, established two national pitch competitions to challenge students, raised the program's national profile, built an angel funding network and grew enrollment significantly. Today the UGA Entrepreneurship Program has one of the highest enrollments of any program on campus and includes students from every college at the University, a point of which Bob was particularly proud. Bob was a member of the Agricultural Society and the South Carolina Chapter of The Society of the Cincinnati. Bob was most proud of the fine young men his two sons have become. Robert Howe Pinckney V of New York and Maxwell Patrick Pinckney of Athens and Charleston were the light of his life. He was always there for them and instilled in them the values of hard work, bravery, resilience and adventure. Bob's legacy will continue in the positive contributions they will make in the world. Robert Howe Pinckney IV is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Bradham Pinckney of Charleston, SC, his sons, Bobby and Max, a brother, George Edward Pinckney (Nancy) of Cincinnati, Ohio, sisters, Kay Pinckney of Peachtree City, Georgia, and Ellen Pinckney Balthazar (Jim) of Austin, Texas, an uncle, Alfred Gaillard Pinckney (Julianna) of Charleston, SC, numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Bob is the grandson of the late Edward Hall Pinckney, Sr., the late Harriet Porcher Gourdin Darby Pinckney, and the late Hattie Vernon Whitaker Pinckney Darby of Mount Pleasant and Charleston. The family would like to thank the marvelously skilled teams at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston for the outstanding care Bob received over his final six weeks. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Robert and Kathleen Pinckney Memorial Scholarship fund through the Georgia Master 4-H Club, or a charity of your choice. A memorial message may be sent to the family by visiting our website at www.jhenrystuhr.com.