Charlie was raised in Mason City, Iowa. He attended Iowa State University for one year prior to entering the USNA. Upon graduation Charlie went into the USAF. After one year in Korea, and a short tour in Florida, Charlie went to the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright Patterson AFB where he earned a M.S. in Electrical Engineering. The rest of Charlie’s Air Force career was spent as an electrical engineer at various Air Force bases. He worked in the Matador missile program in White Sands, New Mexico for several years, followed by a tour in El Segundo, California. Charlie retired from the Air Force in 1976.

After Air Force retirement Charlie and his family undertook an epic adventure in his motorsailor. They spent one year sailing from Annapolis, through the St. Lawrence Seaway, across the Great Lakes to Chicago, down the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, around Florida and up the Inland Waterway back to Annapolis. Charlie then joined the real world by incorporating MAC Industries, Inc. which did marine biology research and developed several patents in new technologies for water purification and filtering human blood.

Charlie died at home in Arnold, Maryland on 2 November 2004. Surviving family members include his wife Mindy, sons Alex and Richie, two daughters Marina and Valerie by a previous marriage, and four grandchildren. Mindy still resides in Arnold, Maryland where she is in private practice as an adolescent psychotherapist.