Dr. Paul Eric Cotter Memorial Endowed Scholarship

Eric Cotter was born in 1914 in Smithfield, NC. He developed a strong work ethic as a young teenager by milking the family cows and delivering milk before school each day. He learned to play the saxophone in high school and used that talent performing in stage bands during his undergraduate years at Lenoir Rhyne College.
Dr. Cotter finished dental school at Atlanta Southern Dental College (now Emory University) in the early years of WW II. He joined the US Army Dental Corps and was sent to London where he provided dental care for the troops at Hinman Dental Clinic. Immediately after D-Day, he was transferred to Paris where he was in charge of the Hinman Dental Clinic in that city.
When WW II ended, Dr. Cotter returned to North Carolina and established his own private dental practice in Sanford. He married his college sweetheart, and they had one daughter, Martha. He loved the out-of-doors, spending time landscaping his yard and cultivating his garden.
Dr. Cotter was a skilled dentist and provided excellent dental care to his Sanford patients for 45 years until his retirement in the early 1990s. He recognized the importance of having a skilled dental assistant by his side.
Dr. Cotter taught economics at Fayetteville Technical Community College for 28 years. This scholarship was created by Charles M. Oldham, Jr. and wife, Martha Cotter Oldham to honor Dr. Cotter. Martha Oldham is Dr. Cotter’s daughter.