Dec. 8, 2025 — Charles Nuttall, M.D. ’71, has worn many hats. The retired nephrologist, a grandfather of two, spent a fruitful career treating patients and consulting for pharmaceutical companies, and was honored with one of humanity’s most significant awards.

Oh, and there’s also the Santa hat.

Between 2012 and 2022, Nuttall traded in a physician’s white coat for jolly Saint Nick’s signature velvet red suit and black boots, greeting guests at Santa’s Corner, part of the holiday market in Manhattan’s Bryant Park each December.

“I didn’t intend to grow up to look like Santa Claus,” Nuttall said. “When I started to look like him, friends and family encouraged me to take it on.”

He started out portraying Santa at family gatherings, handing out gifts during the holiday season. Through contacts he had in the acting and modeling world, he was tapped to don red the suit at Bryant Park, meeting with thousands of children and families from across the globe who visited New York each winter.

He recalled one visitor, an adult who paced back and forth in front of Santa’s Corner before finally coming up to Nuttall’s Santa.

“He approached me and said, ‘I know you’re not real, but my mother is dying of cancer,’” Nuttall said. The man handed Nuttall a Saint Christopher medal and asked him to bless it.

“It was great to see all the kids, but that’s an encounter that sticks with me,” Nuttall said.

Long before he spread holiday joy to residents and visitors in New York, Nuttall attended medical school at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

“It was such an intense four years and with only 64 students in my class, we all were really close — we forged and melded together,” he said. “To me the most fabulous memory was graduation day because the four years were challenging and in spite of everything, I felt I had made it. I accomplished something that was extremely valuable, and no one could ever take it away from me.”

While in school Nuttall bonded with Robert Cade, M.D., during his nephrology rotation, calling the late College of Medicine faculty member and Gatorade inventor “a mad genius.”

“He was quite a character known for taking students in the nephrology clinic rotation out to eat at an Italian restaurant when his ‘garlic tank was getting low,’” Nuttall recalled.

To give back to the institution where he received his education, Nuttall created a Charitable Remainder Trust, providing philanthropic support to the college’s future medical students.

“I always felt indebted to the UF College of Medicine and to the taxpayers of Florida who supported my matriculation there,” he said. “It transformed my life and allowed me to succeed. I wanted to pay it back and the CRUT gave me the opportunity to do that. I see such a vehicle as a means of doing well for myself while doing good for others.”

Nuttall spent his early medical career as a staff nephrologist with the U.S. Navy, serving at the Great Lakes Medical Center in North Chicago.

Having grown up in St. Petersburg, Florida, in the 1960s when the Cuban Missile Crisis grabbed the world’s attention, Nuttall became a charter member of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, or IPPNW. The Cold War and threats of nuclear war continued to loom in the 1980s, when the group disseminated information about the catastrophic consequences of nuclear war on humanity. In 1985, IPPNW members, including Nuttall, received the Nobel Peace Prize for these efforts.

“Of course, it was very gratifying to be part of that group, as a charter member of IPPNW,” Nuttall said. “It’s a great honor and it was certainly unexpected.”

Over the next several decades, he continued to work with pharmaceutical companies throughout the U.S., providing expertise on the development of medical products and devices. He also continued to make time for his other passions, acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company on the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner and assisting a ship photographer with Silversea Cruises.

After traveling the world, Nuttall continues to call Manhattan’s Upper East Side home, where he lives with his wife, Marcia, in a home once occupied by cartoonist and innovator Rube Goldberg.

“Right now, I feel like I’m living my best life in spite of some medical limitations,” Nuttall said. “One of my favorite movies is ‘Zorba the Greek,’ and the main character embraced life, with all its triumphs and tragedies. I like to think I’ve undertaken the film’s idea of ‘full catastrophe living,’ pursuing goals and not second-guessing yourself too much.”