Charlie died Jan. 5, 2008, in Bradenton, Fla., having devoted his life to education and writing chemistry textbooks.

He prepared at Rahway (N.J.) High School. At Princeton he majored in chemistry, was a member of the Chemistry Club, and graduated with honors as a member of Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa. In 1943, he earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at Yale.

Charlie was an instructor and research associate at Princeton, serving as an assistant to Sir Hugh Taylor, dean of the Graduate School, while working during World War II on the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb.

After the war, Charlie joined the chemistry faculty at Williams College, becoming a professor and then chairman of the chemistry department and the Ebenezer Fitch Professor in 1957. He was also secretary of the faculty. Upon retirement he came to Bradenton in 1979, serving as a lecturer at New College.

He authored two chemistry texts: Introduction to Chemistry, published in 1956, and Inside Chemistry, published in 1979, a college-level book for non-chemistry majors. Charlie was gratified to see these texts translated into Spanish and Japanese editions.

His wife, Ida Lightman Kay, died in 1985. Charlie leaves no survivors. The class cherishes the memory of this loyal Princetonian.

Undergraduate Class of 1940