Charles E. “Charlie” Rockwood, a Florida State University professor emeritus and a transformational philanthropist, passed away on June 26, 2025 – four years after his trailblazing wife, Persis Rockwood. He was 93. Charlie Rockwood joined the FSU faculty in 1960. He retired as professor emeritus of economics in 1991. He and his wife generously gave more than $14.2 million in gifts to the College of Business, College of Music and College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. Their $10 million philanthropic investment in the College of Business in 2022 established the Dr. Persis E. Rockwood School of Marketing, the first U.S. marketing school named for a woman. Charlie Rockwood announced the gift a year after the passing of Persis, an FSU professor emerita who in 2018 became the first woman inducted into the College of Business’ Charles A. Rovetta Faculty Hall of Fame. She established an array of firsts, including the first woman at FSU to become a full professor of marketing in 1973. Read More