A fund, a standard, and a story of service.

Charles Kotcher was born in Detroit and raised in Grosse Pointe Farms, a 1962 graduate of De La Salle Collegiate High School who enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in June of 1966. He served thirteen months in Vietnam with the 1st Marine Division, working as a postal clerk headquartered in Da Nang and delivering mail by chopper to Marines in the field. He returned to Grosse Pointe Farms in April of 1968 and was discharged as a corporal.

The discipline of boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego — and the memory of a fellow Marine, Ed Blumer, killed in action at age twenty — shaped a lifelong conviction: service is measured by what is kept for others, and the sacrifices of fellow soldiers are never forgotten. Kotcher's name is listed on the Vietnam War Honor Roll plaque at The War Memorial in the Alger House, a tribute he regards as belonging to the four hundred Grosse Pointers who served.

At home, Kotcher's philanthropy is grounded in the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph and its Detroit ministries. The Capuchin call to walk in the footsteps of St. Francis while remaining 'in the world' — through justice, peace, care for the vulnerable, and the integrity of creation — is the spiritual backbone of his nonpartisan giving. He supports the work without demanding credit, preferring that the outcome be measured by the people it helps rather than by the name attached.

As the founding angel investor of the Kotcher Fund, Charles provides the patient capital, the example, and the expectation that philanthropy should be put to work: in fellows, in ideas, in places, and in the practical, daily labor of peace across southeast Michigan and beyond.