Charles Braxton Moncure (1943–2026): A Life That Touched So Many

Co-founder of Bluefields Bay Villas & Suites, beloved husband, father, and friend — remembered by the family and community he built across two countries and a lifetime of connection.

Charles Braxton Moncure, 83, former CEO of Ross & Moncure in Alexandria, Virginia, and co-founder of Bluefields Bay Villas & Suites in Bluefields, Jamaica, died in Washington on April 17, 2026, of leukemia. He was surrounded by his family who loved him dearly. The son of the late Henry Trevilian Moncure and Mary Albert Booth Moncure of Alexandria, Braxton grew up in Rosemont and graduated from George Washington High School, where his father was the first principal after the school was built in 1935.

An Education Across Three Continents

Gifted in languages, Braxton paused his US university studies to spend a year at the University of Barcelona, Spain, before returning to graduate from the University of Virginia in 1966. He completed basic ROTC training but was denied military service due to a congenital eye problem, so he joined the Red Cross, assisting an Army medical unit and teaching English to prisoners of war in Danang, Vietnam. From 1967 to 1969, he served with the Red Cross in Ankara, Turkey, before enrolling in Balliol College of the University of Oxford to study economics. He moved back to the US in 1970 due to his father’s ill health, working in insurance and finance for four years before purchasing the Ross Accounting Firm in Alexandria from family friend Robert Earle Ross. He served as CEO of Ross & Moncure until he retired in 2020.

Jamaica, and the Beginning of Bluefields Bay Villas

In 1978, Braxton met the love of his life, Deborah Chemers, an architect from Long Island, New York. From the outside, the two had nothing in common; one a Southern son from an old Virginia family, one the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Ukraine. But Braxton was neither insular nor tribal, he judged people by their character, establishing deep, meaningful and lifelong relationships with so many people along the way. In 1982, Braxton and Debbie moved to Jamaica part-year, buying up real estate on the south coast of the island for Debbie to reimagine and redesign. They were married at one of their villas, Mullion Cove, in 1983. Before long, the hobby turned into a business, and Bluefields Bay Villas and Suites thrives to this day.

“Braxton was neither insular nor tribal — he judged people by their character, establishing deep, meaningful and lifelong relationships with so many people along the way.”

A Life of Connection

Most remarkable about Braxton was his ability to touch people’s lives. A larger-than-life personality, he used his accounting firm, which for years specialized in the taxation of foreigners temporarily moving to Washington for work, to welcome people into his home and to connect them with others. He joined many boards, including those of the English-Speaking Union of the USA, the Tudor Place Foundation, the Young Concert Artists, and the Classical Arts Society of Washington. He used his time in Jamaica to get involved in everything from community associations and local schools to the island’s furniture history society and only synagogue. Everyone always remembered Braxton. In his final days, the outpouring of love and concern from people all over the world, expressing their appreciation for him, was truly touching.

Family

Braxton is survived by his wife of 43 years, Debbie; his son Andrew Houston Moncure (Kate Louise); daughter, Mary Rachel Booth Moncure Martin (Isaiah Guyman Martin IV); sister, Nancy Houston Moncure Deiss (William Edward Deiss); three grandchildren, William Henry Moncure, Isaiah Guyman Martin V, and Jaquelin Blair Moncure Martin; his wonderful nieces and nephews, and their children. He was predeceased by his sister, Mary Ambler Moncure Fritsche, and brother, Henry Booth Moncure.