Charles W. Blackwell, Chickasaw Nation Ambassador to the United States of America and Director of Native Affairs & Development Group, died on January 2, 2013, in Washington, D.C. at the age of 70, of respiratory complications following surgery.

Mr. Blackwell was born July 30, 1942 in Concho Indian Hospital in El Reno to Hubert and Kittie Blackwell. Raised in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, near the Blue River, and other small towns in the Chickasaw Nation, he was graduated from East Central State College, OK, and from the University of New Mexico School of Law. As an educator, lawyer, and diplomat, Ambassador Blackwell was a nationally known and forceful advocate for Tribal sovereignty and the fulfillment of the Federal-Tribal trust relationship, for building partnerships between the private and Tribal business sectors, and for Native health and education.

His parent's have preceded him in death. He is survived by his two sons, Geoffrey and Jonathan Blackwell, their spouses, and three granddaughters, a sister Carolee (Blackwell) Maxwell and her husband. A memorial service will be held at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC on Saturday, January 26th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Memorial services will also be held in Ada, Oklahoma, and in Albuquerque, New Mexico.