[7] In the summer of 1950, Charlie Fraser worked in the island logging camp, after he graduated from the University of Georgia and before he entered Yale Law School.
Fraser was entranced by the island and saw its potential to attract many more people to its beautiful beaches, virgin pine forests and rich groves of great live oaks.
Fraser entered law school in the fall and made the development of a master plan the focus of his education.
After Yale Law School, Fraser practiced law briefly with Hull, Willingham, Towell, and Norman in Augusta, Georgia, and served in the U.S. Air Force, working in the office of the general counsel in Washington, D.C.[9] In 1955, at age 26, Fraser drafted a land-use plan for a low-density development on timberland at the southern end of Hilton Head Island on which his family held an interest.
The following year, Charles bought his father's interest in the Hilton Head Company and began developing it into Sea Pines Plantation.
Charles died on December 15, 2002[28][29] when the 28-foot chartered Sun Dance yacht exploded and threw him, his wife, youngest daughter and others into the water.