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Charles Thorpe, led fight for minority work

WHEN CHARLES Edward Thorpe started working to get a share of city contracts for minority businesses, he might have felt like a voice crying in the wilderness. The department was called the Office of Minority Opportunity.

WHEN CHARLES Edward Thorpe started working to get a share of city contracts for minority businesses, he might have felt like a voice crying in the wilderness. The department was called the Office of Minority Opportunity.

And it had one employee - Charles Edward Thorpe.

Things began to change when Charles was instrumental in the formation of the Minority Business Enterprise Council in 1982, with the goal of assuring that at least 25 percent of city contract funds go to minority and female-run businesses.

That became his life. This quietly efficient supervisor, whose cheerful disposition could make his staff laugh while allowing them to do their jobs with a minimum of interference, battled daily - and sometimes at night and on weekends - to ensure that companies that historically had been shut out of city contracts got their fair share.

He died May 10 in Decatur, Ga., while visiting his three children who had moved there. He was 63 and lived in Mount Airy.

"Charles dedicated his life to helping people realize their dreams," said his son, Charles E. Jr. "He was a selfless, caring type of person. He touched hundreds and hundreds of people in his life."

His son said he never heard his father utter a profanity, a considerable accomplishment in a job where he was often called on to deal with obstinate city bureaucrats and contractors who tried to foist themselves off as minority or women-run when they were nothing of the sort.

Eloise Thomas, who worked with Charles in MBEC for 19 years, recalled the case of a minority contractor who wanted the job of mowing grass for the city, but the Procurement Department had put in a clause that the contractor had to retain an arborist. The company couldn't afford to do that.

"I went to Charlie and asked him why the contractor needed an arborist to mow grass," she said. "We went to the department and were told the Fairmount Park Commission wanted the arborist in case the mowers found a tree that needed help.

"They tried to beat us down, but we finally got them to revise the bid and eliminate the arborist. The company got the contract.

"He was the kind of supervisor most people would dream of having," she said.

His son said his father was often offered money or gifts by contractors for helping them.

"He would tell them that he couldn't accept gifts but that there was a family in need or a member of his church who needed a job," his son said.

Charles was born in Philadelphia to Claude Thorpe and the former Carrie Williams. He graduated from West Philadelphia High School and earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University.

He was a six-year member of the Army Reserve, attaining the rank of sergeant. He began working for the city in 1966 and held jobs in various departments, including Water, Procurement, Public Property and Finance before starting with the Office of Minority Opportunity.

He married the former Patricia Saunders in 1965.

Lee Perry, who worked with Charles in MBEC for 15 years, described him as the "very determined type. He was very caring of other folks. He was a tireless worker. He was committed to the cause."

Besides his wife and son, he is survived by two daughters, Margaret Christia and Teresa Sabree; four brothers, Roland, Warren, David and Harold, and five grandchildren.

Services: Memorial service 10 a.m. Saturday at Lombard Central Presbyterian Church, 4201 Powelton Ave. *