Charles G. Flinn ’59

    From the outset Charlie was a brilliant scholar, ranking first in his class through elementary and secondary school, and graduating as valedictorian from Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) High School. At Princeton, he sang in the Freshman Glee Club and Chapel Choir and belonged to Whig-Clio. A history major, he ate at Wilson Lodge.

After Princeton, Charlie earned a law degree from the University of Virginia with subsequent admission to the Virginia, Florida, and D.C. bars. He practiced law in Florida from 1962 to 1963, moving on as assistant to the Navy general counsel until 1971. He then settled in Arlington, Va., where he worked his way from commonwealth attorney to deputy county attorney and finally to Arlington County attorney.

Having obtained a bachelor of divinity degree in 1980 from the University of London and completing a master’s thesis at Westminster Theological Seminary in 1994, Charlie was ordained in the Episcopal Church, thus executing a long-planned career change: moving from a man of the bar to a man of the cloth. Ever learning, he read for a master’s degree in Semitic (Hebrew and Aramaic) languages, and then for a Ph.D. in Semitic languages at Catholic University. He was fluent in French and studied Latin, Ugaritic, German, several dialects of Aramaic, classical Arabic, and Ge’ez (Ethiopic), as well as studying and teaching Koine Greek and Biblical Hebrew.

Charlie died Dec. 21, 2022, and is survived by a sister, Carol; and a brother, John.