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Charles DeGrandpre. (Courtesy photo.)

Charles DeGrandpre. (Courtesy photo.)

Remembering Charlie DeGrandpre

Longtime Charitable Foundation board member and regional advisor helped to structure charitable gift that has made a significant difference for people struggling with substance use disorder in New Hampshire.

By Lois R. Shea, Senior Writer and Communications Officer  |  

Charles DeGrandpre

1936-2020

Foundation director, 1970-1980

Piscataqua Region advisor, 1990-1997

 

The Charitable Foundation community was saddened by the loss of Charles DeGrandpre in February.

Charlie served on the Charitable Foundation’s board for a decade, and on the regional advisory board for Piscataqua for an additional seven years.

As an attorney with McLane Middleton, Charlie worked with his client Oliver Hubbard to fulfill his wish to make a difference for people struggling with substance use disorders in New Hampshire. Hubbard’s $43.5 million gift to the Foundation has resulted in systems and policy change, increased access to treatment and recovery services and evidence-based prevention programs that have contributed to an overall decline in youth substance use in New Hampshire.

“Charlie was instrumental in helping Oliver to structure that gift, and working in partnership with the Foundation to see that his philanthropic goals would be fulfilled. He really does have a share in the legacy of all the good work that has been done as a result,” said Tym Rourke, former chair of the Governor’s Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and director of the Charitable Foundation’s New Hampshire Tomorrow initiative to increase youth opportunity.

Charlie was one of the preeminent trust and estate attorneys in New Hampshire and was named to Woodward’s Best Lawyers in America. His “Lex Loci” column, which reviewed state Supreme Court decisions, ran in the New Hampshire Bar Journal for 40 years.

He volunteered and served on the boards of numerous nonprofit organizations and was named New Hampshire “Volunteer of the Year” by Governor Hugh Gallen in 1982.

Read Charlie’s full obituary here.

A memorial service will be held on Monday, March 16 at the Wentworth-by-the-Sea Hotel in New Castle at 1:30 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, Charlie’s family asked for memorial gifts to be made to New Hampshire non-profits that were dear to his heart: Make A Wish Foundation in New Hampshire; Waypoint (formerly Child and Family Services of NH); and the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire.


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