Charles W. Collier ’71

Charles W. Collier ’71 died on August 2. He graduated from Phillips Andover in 1967, studied religion at Dartmouth, and earned a master’s in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School in 1973. He established an endowed scholarship in his parent’s names at Phillips Andover and received its Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 2001. In 2012 he received the Harvard Medal for extraordinary service and the Peter T. Gomes STB ’68 Memorial Honors award from Harvard Divinity School in 2014. Charlie was initially a professional photographer, but later found his true career path in planned giving while working for the Dartmouth College Fund. He was an officer in planned giving at Brown and Princeton. He was appointed director of planned giving at Harvard in 1986 and became a pioneer and internationally recognized expert in family wealth counseling. He wrote Wealth in Families, a widely heralded book for planned giving professionals. After his diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s in 2008, Charlie became an advocate for the disease and worked closely with the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. Charlie was a devoted husband, son, brother, father, grandfather, uncle and cousin. Charlie is survived by his wife, Susan; sons Charles Jr. and Benjamin and their spouses; sister Linda; sister Debora and her husband; sister Joyce and her husband; his first wife, Sally; stepmother Judith; eight nieces and nephews; and 15 grandnieces and nephews.