Sandra Conradi, a trailblazing forensic pathologist based in Charleston, S.C. who was equally as energized about her beloved family and countless pursuits, died on January 1. Sandra, known as Dr. C to most, who was 87, died from natural causes.

Born on October 23, 1937, in New York City to the late Fae Pusrin Epstein and Joel Epstein, she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., and an M.D. degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1963.

While attending medical school, she met Edward Conradi in the clinical pharmacology department, and the two eventually married. In 1973 the family moved to Mount Pleasant, S.C., where she was appointed Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for Charleston County from 1973 to 1983, while Ed helped establish the Clinical Pharmacology Department at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Sandra served as Chief Medical Examiner for Charleston County from 1983 to 1998. From 1995 until her retirement in 2001, she was Professor of Pathology at the Medical University of South Carolina. Hundreds of sophomore medical students benefited from her course in Forensic Pathology. She was president of the National Association of Medical Examiners and received The George Gantner Achievement Award. Throughout her career, she was a tireless advocate for death investigation by trained physician medical examiners.

In her early professional days in the Charleston forensics field, the petite physician sporting a signature Dorothy Hamill hairstyle quickly found herself navigating a man's world. Possessing at once a formidable intellect and a convivial demeanor, she would go to scene investigations, where the police would caution her away, explaining, "Sorry ma'am, this is nothing that a lady should see." Within a short time, however, they would not let anyone touch anything until Dr. Conradi arrived.

Throughout her career, the unflappable, fiercely canny medical examiner was known for her professional rigor, never compromising the integrity of her scientific methodology. She was also known to proudly embrace her chosen vocation. She affixed custom license plates on her Toyota Corolla, identifying her as MEDEX2. Inside, she kept apprised of the latest fatalities by way of a CB radio with the handle Lady Quincy.

Among her cases was the nationally publicized crime involving Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother who was subsequently convicted of drowning her young sons. She also consulted with crime novelist Patricia Cornwell, having forged a friendship with fellow medical examiner Marcella Fierro, the inspiration for the character Kay Scarpetta, with whom Conradi formed a "Femme Fatale" lunch group of females in the male-dominated field.

The tenets of her forensic approach, she said, "is to be totally honest in your work and always do the complete autopsy, with microscopic examination."

All the while, Sandra remained a highly engaged mother, raising three daughters, Diane, Elaine and Karen, in their Mount Pleasant home on Rifle Range Road where they lived with Ed's grandmother, too. There, she vigorously cultivated a prolific garden. There wasn't anything she couldn't do with squash, canning it, freezing it, pickling it, or transforming it into bread, jelly, relish and even candy.

A lifelong learner, she spoke 3 foreign languages: French, German and Hebrew, and she took classes in everything from clogging, to meditation, to sweetgrass basket-making, to piano and photography. She was an avid bird watcher and photographer, as well as a competitive distance runner well into her 70's. After 2000, when she and Ed purchased a home in Whitefish, Mt., she became involved in her local community there.

She shared with Ed a love of arts and culture. Both were fixtures at local classical music concerts. In their home, she ceded prime real estate to her husband for a listening room equipped with state-of-the-art stereophonic equipment, hundreds of vinyl recordings and two black bean bag chairs. Friends and family were frequently blasted by a Wagner opera or an aria sung by Joan Sutherland.

The two would make annual pilgrimages for marathon weekends at the Metropolitan Opera and international music festivals. Once at a medical examiner conference, she delivered a presentation titled "Death at the Opera," pacing through famous demises and their probable causes, such as Mimi's tuberculosis in "La Boheme."

As curious as she was game, Sandra's love of travel gave new meaning to the notion of immersion. She braved a polar plunge in an Antarctic ice field. She consorted with snow monkeys in Japan. After she lost her husband, Edward in 2006, she enlisted her daughters and grandchildren to join trips to places including Serengeti and Masai Mara, China, Siberia, Antarctica, New Guinea, New Zealand, Galapagos, and many more. She regularly ventured to Israel to visit her sister, nieces and nephews. She loved sending pictures to the Whitefish Pilot and Moultrie News, holding their newspapers during her trips.

Sandra also delighted in her volunteer activities including acting as a tour guide for Temple Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, and conducting raptor necropsies at the Center of Birds of Prey to determine cause of death. She also visited patients in the hospital with her therapy dog, Rudy.

And while the sum total of her many achievements and interests came together in a remarkable woman, Sandra would be the last to frame it as such. She was far too preoccupied with the task at hand, whether establishing the facts of a complex murder case or cracking the code of her latest passion.

While her scientific bent may have veered toward the great beyond, Sandra's every day was met with an unparalleled zest for life. In the lab, at home, or in the wide world, Sandra Conradi embraced every day of her 87 years, leaving nothing whatsoever on the field.

Sandra Epstein Conradi was preceded in death by her parents Fae Pusrin Epstein and Joel Epstein and her husband Edward Conradi.

She is survived by her sister Rosalie Moriah of Jerusalem; her sister-in-law Genevieve Conradi of New Bremen; her daughters Diane Conradi (Stephen Braun) Whitefish, Mt.; Elaine Conradi Eustis (Trevor Johrendt) of Mt. Pleasant, S.C. and Karen Conradi of Portland, Or.; and her grandchildren Sarah Eustis (Beau Wesh) of Quincy, Ma.; John Eustis of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., William Eustis of Chicago, Il., Taylor Deschenes of Missoula, Mt. and Isaac Deschenes of Portland, Or. She is also survived by her very special friends and caregivers Payao Myers and Emma Gjullin who provided Dr. C with great joy and comfort.

In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made in Sandra's memory to the Center for Birds of Prey in Awendaw, S.C., or Whitefish Legacy Partners, in Whitefish, Mt. To send online condolences please visit www.austinfh.com. Austin Funeral & Cremation Services in Whitefish is caring for the family.