Charles John Goetz

1939 - 2024

Charles John Goetz

February 20, 1939 - October 16, 2024

Charles John Goetz, known to friends and family as "Charlie," passed away after a short hospitalization surrounded by his loving family on October 16, 2024, at the age of 85. Charlie resided at Roland Park Place in Baltimore, Maryland, where he moved in 2019 after the death of his wife, Judith C. (Judy) Goetz, in 2018. Previously Charlie was a long-time resident of Charlottesville, Virginia with Judy. Born in Brooklyn, New York on February 20, 1939, to the late Eleanor Bohnaker Goetz and Charles Goetz, Sr., he was raised in Ridgewood, Queens. He completed his high school education at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn where he was a champion cross country and distance track runner. Charlie then went on to Providence College on a National Merit Scholarship, earning his Bachelor's degree and serving as the Editor in Chief of the Providence College newspaper. Sixty-seven years ago this Fall during freshman year, he went on a blind date that would change the course of his life--he and Judy were together from that time until her death.

After college, Charlie attended graduate school at the University of Virginia where he studied under future Nobel laureate James Buchanan. He married Judy in 1962 and graduated with a PhD in Economics from UVA in 1964. Awarded a post-doctoral NATO grant, Charlie chose to study at the University of Pavia in Italy during the 1964-65 academic year. He was joined in Italy by Judy and his two oldest sons. Next, the family moved to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois where Charlie joined the faculty of the University of Illinois as an economics professor. Put off by the bone-chilling winters and the broiling summers, Charlie took a new job at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia starting in 1967, now with an expanded family that included a third son.

At Virginia Tech, Charlie became a full professor and in 1969 helped to found the Center for the Study of Public Choice with his mentor Buchanan and Gordon Tullock. Due to his work relating to the use of economic choice theory to explain the workings of government institutions, in 1975 Charlie had the chance to become a visiting professor at the UVA School of Law. The Law School then offered him a position as the first non-attorney faculty member teaching Law and Economics and first year Contracts. Charlie subsequently wrote the first law school textbook for courses on Law and Economics in 1984. He published a series of seminal law review articles on contract law, co-authored by his colleague Robert Scott, that have been cited by numerous state and federal trial and appellate courts. Charlie later added Antitrust Law to his repertoire and published a textbook for that course, co-authored by Fred S. McChesney, in 1998. He developed a new evidence course called Modern Methods of Proof that taught how to use computers, simulations, and statistical analysis to showcase evidence in ways that might be more convincing to juries at trial. The impetus for this course arose from his realization that most trial attorneys he worked with as an expert witness and trial consultant in antitrust litigation had no training or even awareness of how these areas could enhance their ability to persuade fact finders at trial. During his time at the Law School, he also regularly taught programs on Law & Economics for state and federal court judges through the George Mason Judicial Education Program. Charlie was elected the Joseph M. Hartsfield Professor of Law, an endowed professorship, in 1982, and retired from the Law School in 2006.

Charlie will be remembered for his love of running and travelling, in addition to his kindness to others and generosity with his time and knowledge in helping friends, family, and acquaintances problem-solve difficult life moments. In the summer of 1977, Charlie took up running again after helping to prepare his oldest for his first year of high school cross country. This led to a decades-long affiliation with the Charlottesville Track Club (CTC) that saw him run many 5K, 10K, ten milers, and marathons, including the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC and the Boston Marathon in 1979. Besides running, Charlie also helped officiate races and track meets for the CTC and served as Head of Officials for the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 1987.

His travels with Judy took them far and wide, both in the United States and the rest of the world--from Europe too many times to count, to Antarctica, the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and so many other places, but safaris in southern Africa held especially fond memories for them. Charlie was also an avid reader of news and current events, and a wide variety of fiction genres.

In recent years, Charlie moved to Roland Park Place, a continuing care retirement community in Baltimore. There he was blessed to find love for a second time in his life when he met one of his neighbors, Nancy Hulse, leading to a lasting and loving bond that endured until he passed. Charlie was active in the RPP Spanish Club, as well. He was fortunate to have many deep and lasting friendships, and the family is grateful for all the calls, cards, emails, and visits that poured in after learning of Charlie's passing. The family also would like to thank Charlie's doctors, nurses, and other caregivers whose skills and compassion went hand-in-hand, with particular acknowledgement and gratitude for Nancy Gathungu and Winnie Mwangi, whose care for Charlie and the family was unparalleled.

Charlie is survived by his partner of five years, Nancy Hulse, his sons, Chuck, Dan, and Eric Goetz, Chuck's wife, Karen Nash-Goetz, and their son, Hal Goetz. He also is survived by his sister-in-law Ann Williams Condon, in addition to nephews, Glenn M. Lavery and John A. Condon, and his niece Beth C. Poirier, together with Glenn's three daughters and Beth's son. Charlie will be long remembered by his family and his large circle of friends for his generosity of spirit in the service of other, combined with a healthy dose of humor, love of food and wine, and keen intellect.

The family is planning a memorial service to take place in Baltimore, anticipated to be in February 2025.

Donations in memory of Charlie can be made to the Brother Baldwin Peter Bonventre Fund of Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, 357 Clermont Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11238. https://fundraise.givesmart.com/form/dVBswA?vid=18gt12.