Charles Edward O’Clair, Jr., was born on May 29, 1941, in Ayer, Massachusetts, to Charles Edward O’Clair, Sr., and his wife, Mary Harvey O’Clair. Charles Jr. was usually called either Chuck or Charlie. He had a younger brother, Stephen, and sister, Mary Patricia.

Chuck graduated from Ayer High School in 1959 and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1963, and was hired as a Lobster Culturist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. In November of the same year he signed up with the US Navy at South Weymouth Naval Air Station, and after completing their training he served as navigator and tactical coordinator aboard an SP2E and P3B aircraft until March of 1968, when he was decommissioned as a Lieutenant.

Chuck was admitted to the graduate school of the College of Fisheries of the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1968. On June 9, 1973, he married Rita Mae Gustus, whom he had met at the UW Friday Harbor Labs. The couple had no children.

Chuck finished his PhD in Fisheries Biology at UW in Seattle. His PhD research included a study of the effects of nuclear testing on the intertidal marine communities in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, especially at Amchitka Island.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, a branch of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, hired Chuck to work at their Auke Bay Biological Lab near Juneau, Alaska, where he worked until his retirement in 2001. His early years of research produced definitive studies of the life history and habitat use of Dungeness Crabs, which resulted in new laws governing how logging companies used shallow nearshore waters to store harvested logs which polluted the benthic environment with thick carpets of bark. Near the end of his career he was heavily involved in the detailed assessment of the damage to marine communities caused by a massive spill of oil from the Exxon Valdez tanker after it struck a rocky reef while leaving Prince William Sound, Alaska.

During these years Chuck traveled with Rita to numerous places in Africa, Europe, South America, Australia, New Zealand and various tropical islands in the South Pacific and Caribbean Oceans. All of their destinations were chosen to maximize their enjoyment of natural communities. He also ran a dozen marathons, including Boston, and became an avid cycler.

After Chuck retired in 2001 he and Rita moved to San Juan Island where they spent a year helping build their retirement home in the Three Meadows Community. He lived there until his death on 4 July, 2025, after he succumbed to the effects of Interstitial Lung Disease of unknown cause. His retirement time was consumed by volunteer work for Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, the University of Washington COASST program for the prevention of oil spills in the San Juan Islands, and he also contributed over 20 years of data to the Cornell University’s study of the bird communities at Three Meadows Marsh on San Juan Island, information which is currently available online.