Dr. Charles Peluso showed interns the ropes

Dr. Charles Peluso, who after serving patients in northeast Minneapolis embarked on a career training residents in family practice, was an old-time general practitioner who did it all.

He made diagnoses, delivered babies and performed surgeries.

He was a graduate of Humboldt High School in St. Paul and what was then the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

Peluso, a tenor-baritone, sang his way through college, earning money singing Italian favorites and pop songs at weddings and parties. He performed with the St. Paul Civic Opera and was a soloist for the St. Paul Pops Concert.

He died Nov. 15 in Minneapolis at the age of 86.

During World War II, he was a Navy cadet while a medical student at the University of Minnesota and graduated from the medical school in 1946.

During the Korean War, he served as an Army doctor in Arizona.

He worked "back in the day when doctors did early surgeries and late deliveries," said his son, Michael of New Brighton.

He kept up his education and was among the first to be certified as a family practitioner, said his son.

By the early 1960s, he had become chief of staff of the old St. Barnabas Hospital in Minneapolis.

Around 1970, he left private practice and joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota Medical School, teaching residents at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and caring for patients.

"His residents really respected his wisdom and experience," said Dr. Gerald Jensen of Blaine, a former resident of Peluso's who later became his physician.

"He was enthusiastic, and he was funny," said Jensen. "He gave me a good feel for the art of medicine, and he had good medical judgment."

In the 1980s, he served as a supervising professor of residents in Savannah, Ga., and continued to spend summers in Minnesota. He retired in 1987, and returned to live in the Twin Cities eight years ago.

He showed championship German shepherd dogs and was a bridge player.

In addition to Michael, he is survived by his wife, Lorrie of St. Anthony; his other sons, Thomas of Rochester, Minn., Charles of Rochester, Minn., and Steven of Minneapolis; daughters, Andrea Dorn, of Seattle, Debra Ayres of Prior Lake, Jean Huss of St. Anthony and Maria Binder of New Brighton; sister, Rosemary Peterson of Minneapolis, and 13 grandchildren.

Services have been held.