The Library mourns the passing of Charles Trueheart, who served as its Director from 2007 to 2017 and remained a close friend and steadfast supporter of our community, most recently as a member of the Board of Trustees until June of this year.

Charlie came to the Library at a turning point in its history and, over the course of a decade, helped transform it into the flourishing cultural institution it is today. With characteristic intelligence, humility, good humor, and determination, he strengthened the Library’s foundations while helping to reimagine its place in Paris: not only as a home for books and readers, but as a gathering place for writers, ideas, conversation, and community.

During his tenure, the Library modernized and expanded its spaces and services, greatly enlarged its literary and cultural programming, strengthened its relationships with donors and partners, and established initiatives that remain central to its identity today. Charlie launched the American Library in Paris Book Award, revived the annual Gala, championed programming for children and teens, and oversaw the transformative renovation that created the Florence Gould Reading Room. The Library’s growing role as a vibrant center of literary and intellectual life in Paris owes much to his vision.

Charlie strengthened the Library’s foundations while helping to reimagine its place in Paris: not only as a home for books and readers, but as a gathering place for writers, ideas, conversation, and community.

A longtime journalist with The Washington Post, Charlie brought a reporter’s curiosity and discernment to his leadership, together with a lifelong devotion to literature and Franco-American exchange. In 2024, the Library had the particular pleasure of welcoming him back as an author to discuss his book Diplomats at War, in a room filled with friends, colleagues, and members of a community he had done so much to foster.

His legacy is visible throughout the Library—in its spaces and programs, certainly, but also in the confidence and sense of possibility he helped instill in the institution. Those who knew Charlie will remember, too, the qualities behind those accomplishments: his warmth and intellectual curiosity, his wit, his pragmatism, and the unassuming manner in which he accomplished so much.

Earlier this year, the Library began plans for a permanent plaque honoring Charlie’s extraordinary service, to be placed beside the entrance to the Florence Gould Reading Room, a space he envisioned and helped bring into being. Charlie was able to know of and appreciate both the tribute and its intended place in the Library before his death.

Charlie’s family has shared that they hope to hold a celebration of his life in Paris before the end of the year. In consultation with them, the Library plans to unveil the plaque in conjunction with that gathering, surrounded by many of the people whose lives intersected with Charlie’s and with the Library over the years. Further details will be shared in due course.

The Library extends its deepest condolences to Charlie’s wife, Anne Swardson, his children, his family, and his many friends.