Charles C. Keller
One of the firm's founding partners, Charles C. Keller is well-known for both his skill as a lawyer and his wide-ranging community service. He currently serves as Senior Counsel to the firm.A 1947 Summa Cum Laude graduate of California State College (now California University of Pennsylvania), Mr. Keller received that institution's highest undergraduate honor - the Distinguished Service Award. He was also elected to Phi Sigma Pi and Pi Gamma Mu, honorary fraternities. Mr. Keller then attended the Law School of the University of Pittsburgh, receiving his Juris Doctor degree in 1949. There he was a member of the Phi Delta Phi fraternity.
Mr. Keller served as President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association from 1982 to 1983, and as a member of its Board of Governors for six years. A member of the Washington County, Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations, Mr. Keller in 1963 received the Washington County Bar Association's highest honor - the Distinguished Service Award - and in 1965, served as its President. He served in the American Bar Association House of Delegates from 1981 through 1984. Elected a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1987, Mr. Keller is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation. He served as editor and publisher of the Washington County Reports for 22 years, from 1959 to 1981. He currently serves as a Trustee of the Washington County Bar Foundation.
Mr. Keller has maintained a high level of interest in public higher education. In the 1960's, he helped organize and was the President of the Association of State College Organizations (ASCO), the consortium of trustees, presidents, alumni, faculty and students who lobbied the adoption of Acts 13 and 14 under Governor Raymond P. Shafer. This legislation created the Board of State College and University Directors, the forerunner to SHEE and Pennsylvania's system of state universities. He also was a very vocal voice for public higher education on Governor Richard Thornburg's Commission on the Financing of Higher Education. He is a past president of the General Alumni Association at California University of Pennsylvania, was a long time a trustee of its Foundation and successfully chaired its first capital fund campaign. He has been general counsel for California's unique student body corporation, Student Association, Inc., for 60 years.
In the realm of community service, over the years Mr. Keller has served as President and Director of the Washington County Easter Seals Society, the Mon Valley United Way, the Mon Valley Hospital, the Mon Valley Health and Welfare Council, and the California Area Chamber of Commerce. He has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania State Chamber of Commerce, and an Executive Vice President and Director of the Allegheny Trails Council, Boy Scouts of America. He is also a founding Trustee and past President of the Washington County Community Foundation.
Mr. Keller is perhaps best known for his involvement with Rotary International, a world-wide service organization of more than 1,200,000 business and professional men and women organized into nearly 34,000 clubs in 170 countries. A member of the Board of Directors of Rotary International in 1974-1976, and in 1986-1988, Mr. Keller served as President of Rotary International in 1987-88. He served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, and as its Chairman in 1992-93. He has been a member of the Rotary Club of California, Pennsylvania, since 1950.
Mr. Keller served as a pilot in the United States Army Air Corps in the ETO Theater in WWII. He retired after 30 years of service from the United States Air Force as a Judge Advocate with the rank of Lt. Colonel.
The father of four grown children, Mr. Keller and his wife, Carol, now reside in Washington, Pennsylvania.
