Charles Manatt, a GW Law School alumnus and former chairman of the Board of Trustees, died Friday night at the age of 75.
Manatt’s distinguished political career began while serving as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1981 to 1985, where he oversaw the nomination of the first female vice-presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro. His service to his country continued in 1999 after President Bill Clinton, whose presidential campaign he co-chaired, named him U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic.
At GW, Manatt was perhaps best known for his tireless support of the GW Law School, from which he graduated in 1962, and serving as chairman of the Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2007.
“I am personally saddened by the passing of my longtime friend and mentor,” Russ Ramsey, Board of Trustees chairman, said. “In my 30-year relationship with Ambassador Manatt, he was unfailingly generous with his time and his knowledge.”
Under Manatt’s leadership of the Board of Trustees, the University became the first in the District to secure a $1 billion endowment while passing guaranteed financial aid and fixed tuition to all students.
As chair of the University’s highest governing body, Manatt was part of the team that created the Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence – a program that sought to increase GW’s academic excellence that is still cited today – and approved a fixed tuition and guaranteed aid policy.
“[Ours] was a long standing relationship which began in 1984 in California and ended only this week with his death. We had our ups and downs but we got much done with each of us carrying different ends of a plank. Each in our respective ways went in the same direction,” former University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg said. “We added value in our personal ways. We will not see his like again. They don’t make them like Manatt any more–if they ever did. He had a special life and played an important role in American politics and at GW. May He Rest In Peace.”
Manatt died in his Richmond, Va. home last night due to complications following a stroke in November, the LA Times reported. He is survived by his wife of more than 50 years and their three children. There will be visitation July 25 in the Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church at 1 p.m.
