Charles Warren Franz ’73

Charles Warren Franz ’73 died on January 23. At the time of his death, Charlie was a resident of Woodbridge, Virginia. Coming to Dartmouth from Newport (New Hampshire) High School, Charlie lived in Brown Hall, majored in economics and philosophy, and played intramural soccer. In 1970 he began working on a 20-year project in his spare time with his physician father, Warren Franz ’50, Med’51, building by hand roads and a pond in a private family memorial forest dedicated to his late sister, Patricia. Starting his professional career in the communications industry in 1976 as director of research at the North American Telephone Association, Charlie moved thereafter through a series of managerial positions of increasing responsibility at International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT), U.S. Telephone, and MCI Communications until 1984, when he transitioned to communications consulting. Charlie began a 36-year career in federal service in 1987 as a policy analyst in the information technology division of the U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration, ultimately becoming chief information officer. He was a dedicated fan of the rock band Phish. In 1996 Charlie became one of the founding members of the Mockingbird Foundation Inc., a nonprofit created by Phish fans that provides financial support for music education for children and in 1997 created The Phish Companion, an encyclopedia of all things Phish. Charlie was the song history editor and a contributor to this 600-page work. He is survived by daughter Erica, son Jakob, two sisters, and a brother.