Charles R. Meeker III ’64

Charlie passed away Feb. 18, 2021. He grew up and attended high school in Dallas, where he played football, ran track, and was active on the student council.

At Princeton he majored in politics, played freshman football, ran track for two years, joined the Judo Club his senior year, and ate at Cannon. In 1967 he graduated from the University of Texas Law School, where he was a law review editor. After a federal court clerkship for a year in Los Angeles, which he joined O’Melveny & Myers, where he became a partner specializing in business and entertainment law.

In 1984 he co-founded a film production company that produced eight major motion pictures (including his favorites The Hitcher and Near Dark). He later returned to law practice as a partner at White & Case in Los Angeles and in 1991 became president of MGM/United Artists for two years.

But to many of his classmates Charlie is best known as a winemaker, which was his favorite occupation. In 1977 he and his wife, Molly, founded the Meeker Vineyard in Sonoma, which now produces 12,000 cases annually with national distribution. He and Molly hosted a wonderful luncheon and winetasting for classmates attending our mini-reunion in California wine country years ago.

Our condolences go out to Molly, their two children, and four grandchildren.