Charles W. McCutchen ’50

Physicist, inventor, and philanthropist, Charlie died Sept. 16, 2020.

He came from the Lawrenceville School to Princeton, where his father was in the Class of 1915, and graduated with honors in physics. A master’s degree from Brown and a Ph.D. from Cambridge followed.

For more than 35 years he worked for the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., where he published numerous articles on joint lubrication. He also had a passion to unveil what he called “scientific fraud,” exposing abuses to the system governing scientific research and grants.

Charlie’s life was not limited to scientific endeavors. Since 1980 he was president of the management company of the Hotel Harrington, which his grandfather had opened in Washington, D.C., in 1914. He was also devoted to the McCutchen Family Foundation, founded in 1956, which provides scholarships and financial aid to a variety of worldwide charities. 

He always enjoyed his time on Lake Placid where, as a boy, he spent summers at his grandfather’s family camp. There he developed an interest in natural history, hydroplanes, and windsurfing. In later years, he delighted in cruising the lake in his fully restored, 100-year-old Fay & Bowen wooden boat.

No next of kin are known. Many tributes followed his death, and he was greatly respected by many people and organizations during his 91 years.