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Our Chuck Nau Has Passed Away
Open any yearbook from our time at Noll and you will see Chuck. He was one of those larger than life, get involved, make things happen kind of guy with an outrageous spirit and love of life. He never changed and lived a colorful life on the international stage while never forgetting his friends and family back home.
We remember and will miss all our departed classmates, but there a some, like Chuck, who imprinted an unique stamp on us as BNI'65 and who leave a larger characterization of who we are. God rest him well.
Charles John Nau, Jr.’65 died April 6 in Washington, D.C., at Sibley Memorial Hospital, aged 77.
Charles was a lawyer, a lobbyist, a politico, a world traveler, loving cousin and friend, and the doting owner of many Schipperkes through the years. His rare blend of humor and brilliance was reflected at home in a whimsical wonderland of collections and artifacts, among them, subway seats from the old Paris metro and photos of his meetings with the Kennedys, Clintons, and an army of politicos.
A Midwesterner, Charles was raised in Munster, Indiana, and attended Bishop Noll Institute, Hammond. He was a devoted and proud alumnus of Notre Dame, following in the footsteps of his father, who was recruited to play football for the Fighting Irish by Knute Rockne. Charles earned an A.B. maxima cum laude and went on to earn his law degree from Notre Dame.
“Chuck” Nau was a major presence at Bishop Noll. In the spring of 1962, he worked classmates to put on the freshman dance, the 65 Bee Hive Jive, which they reprised in 1965. He served on the Student Council freshman and sophomore years, and, after a year away from Noll (with his parents in Butte, Montana), as senior class vice president. Unforgettably, he starred as Tully Bascom opposite LaDonna Grandgenett in The Mouse That Roared, the senior play.
A lifelong Democrat, Charles got involved in politics as a teen-ager, volunteering for John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign. In college, he worked on Robert Kennedy's 1968 campaign, driving Kennedy around the Midwest, introducing him on college campuses. He was devastated by the assassination. At RFK's funeral, Charles was just 50 yards from the grave at Arlington.
Law school was interrupted by the draft in 1970. Charles went to Fort Hood as a specialist in the military police where he used his legal skills at the prisons. After his discharge in 1972, Charles returned to South Bend to finish law school. He graduated magna cum laude in 1974. In short order, he was doing anti-trust and First Amendment work at Cahill Gordon in New York. Soon, he was transferred to Paris, which enabled him to travel the world, negotiating contracts, mostly for oil and gas companies.
Next stop was San Francisco, where he worked for Syntex, the maker of the birth control pill, and then as director of government affairs at ALZA. In his decades-long legal career, he worked on political action committees as a health care lobbyist. He remained active in Democratic politics and moved to D.C. to work as director of government affairs for Johnson & Johnson in 2001 and retired in 2016.
A legend in the business of governmental work, he also left of legacy of generosity. At Johnson & Johnson, Charles would spend thousands of dollars on Christmas gifts for children. He supported Ivory Coast Mothers and Children, a clinic in north Africa, many charities, and hired lawyers to help his longtime aides become U.S. citizens.
Charles is survived by many friends and extended family. Memorial service is private.
Donations may be made in Charles’s honor to Ivory Coast Mothers and Children, www.IvoryCoastAid.org
We will send a donation from our class account to this organization in Chuck's memory.
04/15/2024
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