Remembering Charlie

Hundreds pay tribute to late Prof. Whitebread

—By Lori Craig

The late Professor Charles H. Whitebread’s booming, gravelly voice rang out last week over an audience of 450 and left peals of laughter in its wake.

Charles H. Whitebread

“I had in my practice what I will always think of as the world’s greatest example of a spontaneous statement: One of my clients, on seeing two police officers coming up the walkway of his home … said, ‘You must be here about that Buick I stole.’ Do you know what those police officers were doing? They were raising money for the fraternal order of police.”

The words, recorded during one of Whitebread’s famous BAR/BRI lectures, also left the audience in tears of mourning and joy. Whitebread, the George T. and Harriet E. Pfleger Chair in Law, died in September at age 65.

Faculty, alumni, students, staff, family and friends of Whitebread gathered at USC Town and Gown Nov. 13 for “Remembering Charlie: A Champagne Reception and Tribute to Honor the Late Charles H. Whitebread.” The professor, who wore glasses and a bow tie, taught Gifts Wills and Trusts, Criminal Procedure and an undergraduate law seminar at USC. He also traveled the country delivering bar preparation lectures for BAR/BRI.

450 attended the tribute, held at Town & Gown

Following an opening reception, six speakers took to the podium to share their remembrances, full of Whitebread’s witty sayings and humorous antics. Interspersed throughout the program were performances of some of Whitebread’s favorite music — including Handel, Massenet, Gershwin and Mozart — performed by Angelica Strings.

“It is a fitting tribute to Charlie that his memorial service was filled with love, laughter and fond memories,” said USC Law Dean Robert K. Rasmussen. “Charlie’s enthusiasm for his students and his ability to see the best in all of us made him not only a treasured member of the USC Law community, but a teacher beloved by students and scholars across the country.

UC Irvine Law School Dean  Erwin Chemerinsky and USC  Law Dean Robert Rasmussen

“His last lesson to all of us may be his most enduring — what it means to live life well. Few of us can aspire to have the positive impact on others that Charlie had on his family, friends, colleagues and students.”

Whitebread’s younger brother, Joe, spoke about the “monstrosity of a used car” that Whitebread drove while in college. A two-tone (yellow-green and brown) Packard, the clunker was soon “enhanced” by Whitebread with an orange and black racing stripe that ran the length of the car, from hood to trunk.

Passersby tried to flag down Whitebread, assuming the car was a taxi. Joe used to delight in making his brother drive multiple times around traffic circles to “horrify” other drivers. The car, Joe said, represented his brother’s endearing qualities: his acceptance of people for what they were and his fondness for educating, as he did when forcing drivers to slow down in the traffic circle.

“He had an appreciation and a joie de vivre that I don’t think I’ve seen in a whole lot of people,” Joe Whitebread said. “With Charlie, even the most mundane thing could be fun. There’s some people who look at the glass as half full, there’s some people who look at the glass as half empty. Charlie’s view of the world was, ‘That glass is almost overflowing.’”

Michael Graetz, Yale Law School professor and a friend of Whitebread’s for more than 40 years, said that Whitebread treasured personal relationships and had impeccable manners, sending handwritten thank-you notes in response to gifts or dinners. He loved holidays, especially Halloween and Christmas, and made sure Graetz’s birthday gift arrived early each year.

The Angelica Strings played some of  Whitebread's favorite songs.

The two friends exchanged presents at Christmas, but “Charlie believed in re-gifting,” Graetz said. One year, Graetz gave Whitebread the perfect present: handmade silk bow-ties from Florence, Italy.

“Three years after I had given these to Charlie for Christmas, I was surprised to open my gift and see that I had gotten them back,” Graetz said. “To this day, I don’t know whether he had forgotten from whence they came, or whether he was sending me a rather not-to-subtle message about my taste in bow-ties.”

James Curtis ’82, adjunct professor at USC Law and friend of Whitebread, called Whitebread “a master teacher and master communicator.” Whitebread wasn’t interested in things; he was interested in people, Curtis said.

“He said, ’Jimmy, you’ve got to enjoy the full rich tapestry of life,’ and Charlie certainly did,” Curtis said. “From restaurants to classical music, from museums to worldwide travel, from sports events to rock ‘n’ roll music, Charlie’s sense of adventure and fun-seeking was a marvel.”

Friends Michael S. Kelly and USC Law Prof. George  Lefcoe; partner John T. Golden; Michael Graetz

Whitebread combined his love of the familiar with his passion for travel by making repeat visits to the same hotels, beaches and restaurants in far-flung locales like Paris, Crete, Jamaica and Florence, Italy. He attended the concerts of Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Paul Simon, and loved the Los Angeles Dodgers.

USC Law Professor Susan Estrich, longtime colleague and friend, said Whitebread filled the room when he entered it, lit it up with his exuberance and energy. He loved the law and wanted others to celebrate it as he did.

“Perhaps Charlie’s greatest gift was not really so much about himself, but about how he changed everyone he touched,” Estrich said. “Changed them not only in what they thought, what they knew, and how they saw the law in the world, but most fundamentally in how we saw ourselves. Hs joy came from holding up a mirror that made you better and smarter and more successful than you thought yourself to be. It showed you as he saw you: full of special talent and unlimited potential.”

Prof. Susan Estrich

“Charlie loved teaching because he loved his students. He loved his colleagues. We were all better in Charlie’s mirror than we ever could be in our own. It takes a very big man, and a kind one, to see people that way and to find pleasure, the greatest pleasure, in offering the gift of seeing themselves in the bright lights of his mirror.”

Click here to see excerpts from Whitebread’s BAR/BRI lecture. Click here for Whitebread’s tribute page and for information on the Charles H. Whitebread Memorial Fund.