Charles Luce receives Law School service award

Charles Luce, retired chief executive officer of Consolidated Edison, has received the UW Law School’s 1999 Distinguished Service Award.

A native of Platteville, Wis., Luce received his bachelor’s degree from UW-Platteville before graduating from the UW Law School in 1941. During law school, Luce was a member of the Order of Coif, for students with the highest academic averages.

After serving as a Sterling Fellow at Yale University, Luce became a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black and then practiced law in Walla Walla, Washington from 1946-61. In 1961, he joined the Bonneville Power Administration, leaving there in 1966 to serve as undersecretary of the Department of the Interior. In 1967 he became head of Consolidated Edison in New York, a post he held until 1982.

He returned to private practice in Portland, Ore., after retiring as CEO of Consolidated Edison. Luce served as special counsel to Metropolitan Life from 1987-94. An emeritus trustee of Columbia University, he is a member of the UW Law School’s Board of Visitors. He currently lives in Bronxville, N.Y., where he is active in numerous professional and charitable activities.

Luce becomes the 56th person to receive the UW Law School’s Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding contribution to the legal profession in practice, government service or on the UW law faculty. The award was presented earlier this month.