Charles Nelson Blakemore ’52

Charles Nelson Blakemore ’52 passed away in Eureka, California, on May 8. Charlie was born on January 23, 1928, in Bedford, Iowa. He came to Dartmouth after graduating from Bedford High School in 1946 and serving as an enlisted man in the U. S. Army. At Dartmouth he majored in comparative literature and philosophy and was a member of Alpha Delta Phi and the Sphinx senior society. Charlie spent his entire career in the advertising industry, where he held senior creative management positions at Needham, Louis and Brodby; Leo Burnett; Compton; Dancer Fitzgerald Sample; Benton and Bowles; and his own firm, Blakemore and Killough. Most of these responsibilities were in Chicago and New York, but he also spent eight successful years in Mexico City with Leo Burnett. Charlie was an active Dartmouth alumnus, serving twice as class secretary and a term as class president. He and Kathleen Ryan were married from1953 to 1968 and they had children Martha ’77, Charles Jr. ’80, Elizabeth and Peter. Charlie was married to Mary Kay “Miki” Worsfold from 1968 to 1986 and they had children Andrew and Molly. These family members and several grandchildren survive him. Charlie retired to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and married Virginia Hillman in 1999. She predeceased Charlie in 2011. He then moved to Eureka, California, to be near son Peter. Charlie was a prolific writer of both prose and poetry and a legend in the advertising business.