Charles E. Warren

Charles E. Warren died Friday at his home at Black Butte Ranch, surrounded by family. He was 78.

Charles moved to Black Butte Ranch with his wife, Margaret Louise “Peggy” Warren, after his retirement from Oregon State University in 1987.

Charles and Peggy raised their three children, Mark, Daniel and Catherine in Corvallis. Peggy died in 1993.

In December 2000, Charles married Black Butte Ranch resident Agnes Rands and they made their home there, visiting frequ-ently with children and grandchildren.

Charles spent his entire career at Oregon State University as a fisheries biologist with a specialty in water pollution control.

He was first hired at OSU in 1949, as a graduate assistant. He became an assistant professor at OSU in 1953, and received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1961.

For several years, he served as acting head of the OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.

For more than 30 years, he was head of Oak Creek Laboratory of Biology at OSU.

He published dozens of research papers with colleagues and graduate students. He also authored an influential text on the biology of water pollution in the early 1970s.

But his first priority, in addition to his family, were the dozens of outstanding graduate students he collaborated with over the years, even after retirement, working together on problems of natural resources.

Charles was born October 26, 1926, in Portland, Oregon, to Edward Joseph Warren and Helen Catherine Gatke Warren, the elder of two children. Charles spent most of his childhood in Santa Cruz, California, where his father was a pub-lic school educator and administrator.

Charles is survived by his wife, Agnes; his three children, Mark Edward of Vancouver, British Columbia, Daniel Joseph of Philomath, Oregon, and Catherine Annette of Durham, North Carolina; his sister, Betty, of Santa Cruz, California; his grandchildren Kelly, Hannah and Torie; his stepchildren Deborah, Lisa, Julie and Shelley; nine step-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.

A small family dinner will be held in memory of Charles, but there will be no formal service.

Contributions in Charles’ memory may be made to the organization or charity of one’s choice.