By Walter Swanson Dean of Faculty
In Memoriam: Dr. Charles Warden Jr.
Dr. Charles Warden Jr.: ‘Retirement gig’ inspired careers for many others Dr. Charles “Charlie” Warden Jr. served university level, and worked within private Wilbraham & Monson Academy honorably for industry in the energy and data sectors among eight years to cap off an amazing professional others. His professional experiences ranged career and a wondrous life. Dr. Warden came to from North Korea to West Africa and from the Academy at age 80, after falling in love and the former Soviet Union to Europe and North marrying Cleo Warden, who was working at the America. Additionally, Dr. Warden had an WMA Middle School. impressive career working in Naval Intelligence After meeting Mrs. Warden, he became in the Pacific. My personal favorite part of his intrigued with the Academy as a “retirement gig.” seven-page resume was the final page that listed Boarding school life is busy, and Dr. Warden “Selected Unclassified Professional Publications.” jumped in wholeheartedly teaching AP As a colleague, I appreciated his wit, wisdom Macroeconomics, as well as Financial Markets and his natural contrarian nature. My most vivid within our Center for Entrepreneurship, memories of Dr. Warden are from within our Economics & Finance (formerly CEGS) WMA faculty meetings. Department. There are always a few topics in any meeting Former Head of School Rodney LaBrecque you know are going to potentially be sensitive. At said: “We were so lucky to hire Charlie at the times you hope for rich dialogue, and other times inception of the CEGS program. His expertise (if we’re being honest) you hope to just breeze and guidance were crucial to its success and laid through without a war breaking out. As I would the groundwork for a strong future experience broach a sensitive topic, it would often be met for those students who are taking advantage of with silence to which I thought (yes! . . . this one this program.” Dr. Warden’s life experiences were “Dr. Warden lived an amazing life and inspired nothing short of impressive. He served as an many to live their dreams and become economic advisor in the U.S. government, successful. He was a great educator, teacher was an accomplished professor and dean at the and human being. I am thankful that I was able to humbly learn from him. He will not be forgotten.”
— John Tierney ’15
“Dr. Warden greatly influenced my life while I was at WMA and after I graduated. He taught me Intro to Market Economies, so he was the person that introduced economics to me . . . and here I am now pursuing a Ph.D. in economics. In fact, when I revisited the Academy in Fall 2018 for Alumni Weekend, I had a brief chat with him where I shared that I wasn’t sure about doing a Ph.D. He offered very kind words of encouragement and support. It’s safe to say that I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.” — Mark Xu ’16
“I am deeply sorry to hear this. AP Macro with Dr. Warden led me to study economics at NYU.” — Henry Seo ’13
62
AC ADEMY WORLD SPRING 2021
is not going to cause us a lot of worry) and just as soon as that thought had entered into my head, a slow, steady hand raised at the back of the crowd and Dr. Warden stood up (always standing when making a comment) to offer a contrarian point of view to what I had presented. It was done gently, professionally, but with the intention of pushing our thinking outside of what may be comfortable. It always produced subsequent comments and involved a larger section of the faculty. I appreciate his wisdom, his willingness to offer an alternative viewpoint and will greatly miss that slow, steady hand raising skyward. Yet, Dr. Warden’s greatest impact was upon his students. Teaching Economics into his late 80s, he was always able to connect to young people and weave in his experiences to the ones his students were having in their own time. Dr. Warden passed away on Feb. 7, 2021.
“A true teacher.” — Liam Etti ’20
“Dr. Warden was the epitome of a perfect teacher who encouraged many students to love learning and pursue a career in economics. Thank you.” — Samuel Zablotnij ’19
“Dr. Warden was such a kind and gentle spirit. I feel very fortunate to have taken his classes and learned from him. He will be deeply missed by the entire WMA community.” — Veronica Bernardo ’15
“It was an absolute pleasure to have him as one of my faculty leaders on formal Thursday lunches. I still remember the great wisdom he passed down during our conversations at these lunches.” — Matt Naumec ’15
