Charles M. Williams papers

Charles Marvin Williams was a preeminent authority on finance and commercial banking. He was a beloved professor at Harvard Business School (HBS)where, according to numerous students that later became HBS faculty members, he perfected the case method style of teaching. Williams was born in West Virginia in 1917. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Washington and Lee University in history and economics in 1937 and a Master in Business Administration from Harvard University in 1939. After graduating, Williams worked at the Manufacturers Trust Company in New York City for two years before volunteering for active duty in the United States Navy.

He was commissioned an ensign and enrolled in the U.S. Navy Supply Corps School at Harvard Business School. Upon completion of the program, Williams was stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington as a paymaster. After the sinking of the USS Lexington, Williams was assigned shore duty and taught at the HBS Naval Supply Corps School and the Navy ROTC program at the University of Michigan. He was discharged from the Navy in 1947 with the rank of Lt. Commander, and joined the HBS faculty as an assistant professor. He earned his doctorate in commercial science in 1951 from HBS and was promoted to associate professor. He became a full tenured professed in 1956.

In addition to teaching MBA classes, Williams was involved in HBS Executive Education programs including the School’s International Senior Management Program and the Management of Financial Institutions course. Through the American Bankers Association, Williams led seminars and conferences for bankers at some of the nation’s largest banks. He also taught the Senior Bank Officers Seminar for presidents of small banks. He served as the Edmund Cogswell Converse Professor of Finance and Banking from 1960-1966 and the George Gund Professor of Commercial Banking from 1966 to his death. Williams died in 2011.