As a husband, father, grandfather, lawyer, and judge, among other roles, Charles Lettow lived a life of service devoted to his family, community, and country.  He made great contributions to all, in partnership with his beloved wife Sue.  He is dearly missed.

He was born in Iowa Falls, Iowa in 1941 to Carl Friedrich and Catherine Lettow.  He grew up on his parents’ farm south of town with two younger sisters, Beth (Brusius) and Nancy (Bahr-Malone).  From an early age, he worked on farm chores and showed cattle and hogs with 4-H at the Hardin County Fair and the Iowa State Fair.  He graduated from Owasa High School in 1958, one of fourteen in his class.

He attended Iowa State University as an Army ROTC cadet, was a member of TKE fraternity, and president of the College of Engineering Student Council.  At Iowa State, he met and became engaged to Bonnie Sue Todoroff of St. Louis.  Charles graduated in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and spent a year working for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati.  Charles and Sue were married in 1963, the year of Sue’s graduation, at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Buckeye, Iowa.

From 1963 to 1965, Charles served on active duty in the U.S. Army with the Third Infantry Division.  He was stationed in Würzburg, West Germany, and he and Sue spent the first years of their married life living in the house of a German couple in the town.  Charles had decided to go to law school, and took the LSAT at 3:00 AM in Germany, to match the time it was administered in the United States.  Charles served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a captain from 1965 to 1972.

Charles attended Stanford Law School, where he was Note Editor of the Stanford Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.  He graduated in 1968.  From 1968 to 1969, he clerked for Judge Benjamin C. Duniway of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, whose chambers were in San Francisco.  From 1969 to 1970, he clerked for Chief Justice Warren E. Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court.  Charles and Sue moved to Arlington, Virginia.  Because of the riots in Washington at the time, Chief Justice Burger sometimes asked Charles to drive him to the Court in his nondescript sedan.

After his clerkships, beginning in 1970, Charles worked as Counsel to the newly-created Council on Environmental Quality, or CEQ, in the Executive Office of the President.  Charles and others at CEQ designed the Environmental Protection Agency, piecing it together from offices scattered among other agencies.  While working at CEQ, Charles was designated as the point person for treaty negotiations.  Charles made several trips to Iceland to negotiate the Law of the Sea Treaty.  He also negotiated several bi-lateral treaties, with Iceland and other European countries.

In 1973, Charles joined the Washington office of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and became a partner in 1976.  He served several times on the firm’s executive committee.  He greatly enjoyed working with his colleagues at Cleary, Gottlieb, and he and Sue gained many friends among them and their spouses.  While at the firm, Charles practiced environmental litigation and general commercial litigation.  He argued three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, most notably U.S. v. Stauffer Chemical Company in 1983, in which he won a unanimous decision on a question of collateral estoppel.  He argued more than 40 cases in the U.S. Courts of Appeals and handled many cases in federal trial courts.

Charles was active in professional organizations and took on leadership roles.  He was Chairman of the Environmental Controls Committee of the Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association from 1983 to 1987.  In 1992, he received an award from the National Association of Attorneys General “for sustained assistance to the States in their preparation for appearances before the Supreme Court of the United States.”  He became a member of the American Law Institute in 1994, and in 1997 and 1998, he received awards from the National State and Local Legal Center for amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Charles and Sue were active members of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in McLean, Virginia.  Charles served on the church council and on pastor call committees, and participated in mission work.

Charles was also deeply involved in building an educational institution.  Charles and Sue had four children, Renée, Carl, John, and Paul.  All of them attended the Potomac School in McLean, Virginia.  Charles was a member of the board of trustees of the school from 1983 to 1990, and served as chairman from 1985 to 1988.  While Charles was chairman, the board of trustees decided to establish a new high school, a decision that Charles strongly supported.  This was a controversial choice, and Charles devoted his considerable abilities to persuade his fellow trustees.  All seven of Charles and Sue’s grandchildren either currently attend or have attended the Potomac School.

All his life, Charles maintained a vigorous interest in history.  While on sabbatical from Cleary, Gottlieb, Charles and Sue moved to Providence, Rhode Island so that Charles could earn a master’s degree in history from Brown University in 2001.  While at Brown, Charles studied with historian Gordon Wood.

In 2003, Charles was appointed to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, where he served with distinction through the end of his term in 2018, and then as an active senior judge until 2024.  He enjoyed warm relations with his colleagues and staff at the court and with his law clerks.  His technical background and knowledge of relevant fields such as accounting allowed him to ask detailed questions of expert witnesses, many of whom appeared relieved to be understood.  He worked hard and was always current with his docket.  His notable decisions included a case about the federal government taking property that had been a wildlife refuge, Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. U.S.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed his decision, but in 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Federal Circuit.  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion for a unanimous court and emphasized the trial court’s “detailed findings of fact.”

Charles was proud of his connection with Iowa State University, and was a lifelong supporter.  In 2008, he was selected as one of four visiting scholars from government and industry to “develop graduates with leadership skills, appreciation for ethical behavior, technical and scientific expertise and an understanding of society’s needs.”  In 2013, Iowa State inducted him into the inaugural class of its Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Hall of Fame, and in 2016, Iowa State honored him with its Distinguished Alumni Award.

Charles was disciplined and regular in his habits, which helped him to accomplish so much.  He was unfailingly kind and gracious to everyone, regardless of a person’s job or situation in life.  He listened to and understood others’ perspectives, even when he disagreed.  If the situation called for it, he calmly explained his view, but everyone felt heard.  He had the old-fashioned virtues of tact and discretion.  He was able to build consensus around important goals.  These qualities made him a consummate judge.  All litigants and counsel felt that they were heard and understood, and that the decision-maker was impartial.  He was unflappable on the bench, always courteous to all.

He did physical work all his life, as long as he was able, including clearing brush, building fences, and tending to cattle on his farm in southern Pennsylvania.  The work earned him the respect of those who did physical work alongside and for him.

Charles’s wife Sue died in 2016, after a long illness in which Charles was her main caregiver.  Charles was devoted to his and Sue’s four children, Renée Lerner, Carl, John, and Paul, to their spouses, Craig Lerner, Alexandra Lettow, Brett Denevi, and Kristen Silverberg, and to his seven grandchildren, Ely, Anna, Elias, Charles (Charlie), Maria, John (Jack), and Henry.  Charles was also close to his sisters, Beth and Nancy, and their families.  They all miss his deep care and interest, and his sound advice.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, January 4, 2025, at 11:30 am, with a reception afterward, at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Berlin Avenue, Buckeye, Iowa 50006, with burial to follow at Union Cemetery, Cedar Street & Pine Street, Iowa Falls, Iowa 50126.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2025, at 11 am, with a reception afterward, at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, 1545 Chain Bridge Road, McLean, Virginia 22101.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Charles’s memory to St. Paul Lutheran Church, Buckeye, Iowa, at the following address:  P.O. Box 8, Alden, IA 50006; or to the Iowa State University Foundation, 2505 University Boulevard, Ames, IA 50010, to benefit the Military Science Scholarship Fund.  In the latter case, funds will be used to provide scholarships to individuals enrolled in ROTC at Iowa State.  Online donations can be made at  www.foundation.iastate.edu (the Military Science Scholarship Fund can be specified in the Notes/Instructions box).