Charles Arthur "Chuck" Cole

Long Beach California native Charles Arthur Cole died peacefully at the Armenian Rehab Center in Boston on July 1 following a gradual decline.

Born to Charlie and Mardell (Bald) Cole in Long Beach, Chuck graduated from Jordan High School in 1957. While in high school, he joined a group of aspiring newspaper reporters in what became the California Scholastic Press Association (https://cspaworkshop.org/). Now in its 75th year, the CSPA trains high school journalists during summer workshops. In the 1950s, Chuck and other high schoolers covered their schools’ sports and wrote stories for the morning’s Herald Examiner, learning the basics of journalism in a hands-on, deadline pressure style.

That high school sports writing led to his passion as “a newspaper man.” He graduated from Pepperdine University in 1962 and worked as a general assignment reporter at the South Bay Daily Breeze as well as in public relations for Security Pacific National Bank. A longtime resident of San Pedro and Long Beach, Chuck could walk the city for hours, knew all the best places for a cup of coffee, and enjoyed the company of both old and new friends. He attended and volunteered at the Church of the Nazarene in San Pedro and lived in the Chestnut Hill Apartment Building in Long Beach. As a resident at the Armenian, Chuck was a friendly fixture who always managed to answer trivia questions even while asleep!

Chuck loved his family deeply and was the father of two girls: Colinda M. Cole-French (William) of Boston and Susan T. Buschur (Don) of Anchorage. He is survived by four grandchildren: Sarah Buschur, William Cole-French, Timothy Cole-French and Catherine Cole-French and two step grandchildren, Devin Buschur and Heather Hays; two sisters: Susan Jackson and Mardell Laabs and a brother, Edward Cole, plus numerous nieces and nephews.

An online celebration of life will be held on July 22, 2025, at 2 p.m. EDT. For a link to the service, contact: Colinda at colefrench@gmail.com.