Posted October 20, 2026
—Charles Poore Munroe, 88, June 11, 2026, Coconut Grove, Florida. A grandson of the influential yacht designer Commodore Ralph Munroe, Mr. Munroe grew up in the home that his grandfather named “The Barnacle” after settling in 1891 at the Biscayne Bay property, now a state park. Like his grandfather and father, Wirth Munroe, Mr. Munroe’s passions in his youth included building boats and nurturing a fascination with the area’s rich flora and fauna. A mechanical engineer educated at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he went on to a career first at Eastern Air Lines and then at IBM for 30 years. In 1938, he was recorded—at age 1—as a member of the Coconut Grove Yacht Club founded by his grandfather, and he remained a member throughout his life, serving as commodore for two years in the mid-1990s. He sailed a 39’9” plank-on-frame keel-centerboard cutter, COMANCHE, that was designed by his father and built in Miami in 1956.
Written by Tom Jackson.