Community leader known as ‘Mr. Albuquerque’ dies at 98
Chuck Lanier ‘sought to multiply the good things in the city’
Charles S. “Chuck” Lanier was often referred to jokingly by his friends as “Mr. Albuquerque” because of the many boards, committees and organizations that he was affiliated with, said his daughter, Debbie Gunderson, who remembered her father as “loving, charming and witty.”
Lanier and his wife, Rita, were married for 71 years when he died Dec. 20, surrounded by family. He was 98.
Lanier, a decorated Navy veteran of World War II, managed the University of New Mexico Golf Course for 10 years before working for New Mexico Title Co. for more than three decades, retiring as president in 1987.
“He was just one incredible, positively-minded, pro-community and pro-business guy,” said friend Bob Murphy, executive director of the Albuquerque Economic Forum. Lanier, a founding member of the forum, attended a meeting as recently as last month, Murphy said.
“Chuck was very likeable and had a sharp mind. He was from a different era and he pretty much cut to the common sense core of issues,” Murphy said. An ardent and optimistic community leader, Lanier, he said, “always felt strongly that we all could work together better and make Albuquerque a better community.”
Lanier was born in Aztec, where his father was the postmaster and his mother was the postmaster’s assistant. His first job at age 10 was delivering the Albuquerque Journal.
He graduated from Aztec High School and then attended the University of New Mexico under a program affiliated with the U.S. Navy. On graduation in 1943, he entered the U.S. Navy as a commissioned officer, where he served on four aircraft carriers in the South Pacific during World War II.
With the conclusion of the war,
Lanier separated from the Navy and returned to Albuquerque, where he took a job as manager of what was then the university’s 27-hole golf course.
In 1948, Lanier met the former Rita Ann Leahy. A member of the Beta Sigma Phi sorority, she was ushering for a play at the Albuquerque Little Theatre where Lanier and some friends had gone to see the show. They began dating and married later that year.
In 1955, Lanier was elected to the Albuquerque City Commission, the governmental body that preceded the City Council. Another longtime friend, now-retired attorney Bill Keleher, recalled that Lanier was among the progressives in municipal government who recognized that Albuquerque was growing and that major infrastructure improvements were required to meet that future growth. Lanier brought enthusiasm, spirit, drive and dedication to “improving the business and civic climate of the city,” Keleher said.
“He was a very honest person, a man of strong ethics, and a strong supporter of better government and getting out the vote. He sought to multiply the good things in the city and never wanted to be a divider or split the community.”
Lanier also served the state for nine years as chairman of the State Personnel Board.
Civic minded, Lanier was president, chairman, vice-chairman or a member of a host of organizations. Among them was United Community Fund, the Albuquerque Boy’s Club, the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, the Great Southwest Area Council of Boy Scouts of America, the Albuquerque Economic Forum, the YMCA Rebuilding Campaign, the advisory council of St. Joseph’s Hospital, the UNM Foundation Board and the Albuquerque Armed Forces Advisory Association.
In addition to his wife, Rita, Lanier is survived by five children: David Lanier, of Buckeye, Arizona; son Clifford Lanier, of Spokane Washington; daughter Debbie Gunderson, of Albuquerque; son Charles Lanier, of Keller, Texas; and son Randall Lanier, of Albuquerque; as well as 16 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Burial will take place Jan. 3 at Santa Fe National Cemetery. A public celebration of Chuck Lanier’s life will be held at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, 4020 Lomas NE, on Jan. 4, starting at 10 a.m.