Necrology

Charles Allaire Langdon '58

Apr. 22, 1935-Aug. 8, 2024

Charles Allaire Langdon ’58 died on Aug. 8, 2024, in Redmond, Wash. Born on April 22, 1935, in Long Island City, N.Y., he grew up in West Hempstead, N.Y., and came to Hamilton from Salisbury School in Connecticut. On the Hill, he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and majored in English literature.

Following graduation, Charlie joined the U.S. Army. He had previously met Marilyn Berkes, a student at the Adelphi College Nursing School; in 1959, while serving with the Army Medical Corps in Valley Forge, Pa., he proposed marriage via letter and included a self-addressed stamped envelope for her reply. Wasting no time, she wrote “Yes” on the outside of prepaid stationery. They were married in Hempstead on May 28, 1960, would have four children, and settled in Long Island.

In October 1962, Charlie began his career in social work as a caseworker for the Nassau County Department of Public Welfare. Finding this work rewarding but wishing to become a licensed social worker, he was applying to several graduate schools of social work in the greater New York area by January 1963. Studying part time as he continued to work, Charlie earned his Master of Social Work degree at Fordham University in 1967. In 1969, he began working as an adjunct professor of social work at the State University of New York at Farmingdale, where he stayed until 1972. By 1971, he had risen to executive director of the Nassau County Children’s Bureau & Youth Board as well. 

He became deputy director of the Community Service Society of New York in 1974 and also accepted a voluntary role as president of United Charities. During his tenure at the Community Service Society, Charlie was both deputy general director for management and acting general director. 

By the end of the 1970s, Charlie and Marilyn decided to depart Long Island for Issaquah, a suburb of Seattle, where Charlie became executive director of the Children’s Home Society, a private nonprofit United Way agency providing parent and child counseling, foster care, untimely pregnancy counseling, residential treatment, and adoption services throughout Washington. He held that position until 1989 when a heart attack compelled him to retire early.

Charlie is yet another example of the relative uselessness of the term “retirement.” - In 1994, he became president of Advancing Solutions for Adolescent Pregnancy, remaining in the position until 2000. Then, in 2004, he became chief executive officer of Deaconess Children’s Services in Everett, Wash., finally stepping down in 2007. In 1999, he started Executive Planning Associates, a consulting business to assist individuals and organizations with strategic planning. 

Charlie enjoyed life outside of work. From an early age, he loved boating, and while on Long Island he owned a series of power boats. In Washington, sails replaced motors for a time when he purchased a 25' catboat to navigate the inland lakes of the state as well as the international waters of Puget Sound. He then acquired a 34' Tollycraft powerboat, large enough to accommodate family and friends for further explorations. A voracious reader, he was particularly drawn to fiction, including works by Ernest Hemingway and Ken Follett.

Charlie never strayed far away from social service, even in retirement. He and Marilyn made themselves available to foster children, runaway teens, single mothers, and abandoned kids. As his daughter Karen recalled in a correspondence, these individuals “always had a bed in our house and a seat at our dinner table.” He also counseled young adults regarding their career paths and helped them to give priority to their passions.

Charles A. Langdon is survived by his wife, four children, and nine grandchildren.

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