Charlie was born in Houston, TX to William Clayton Sawyer and Mildred Sawyer Bradley in 1953.  His family lived in several places including Dallas, Louisville and San Antonio before settling in Ballinger, TX where Charlie attended the majority of his childhood school years.

Charlie began his higher education at St. Mary's University in San Antonio where he received both his bachelors and masters in Economics.  He would later go on to receive his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

While at the University of Arkansas, Charlie started his teaching career as an instructor between 1977 and 1982. However, the majority of his teaching career was at the University of Southern Mississippi where he taught and mentored students for over 24 years. During this time he helped raise two children and saw the birth of his first grandchild.

In 2007, Charlie led the family charge to Texas by accepting a teaching position at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX where he held the notable position of Hal Wright Professor of Latin American Economics. The family soon followed, adding two more grandchildren and several more rescue dogs in the following years. 

Charlie's life was rich both professionally and personally. A lifelong tennis player and avid gym-goer it was often joked that he boasted the best health in the family. His discipline and drive will not soon be forgotten. 

Charlie is survived by his sister Jean Collins, loving wife of 42 years Diana and children Kyle and Kerry.  Charlie also leaves behind three grandchildren Kaylee (14), Levi (7) and Macey (4).

Throughout his long and distinguished career, Charlie was also involved with several economics organizations including the International Trade and Finance Association of which he was a board member. Long time colleague and friend Alex Velez had this to say about Charlie's impact in the area of Latin American economics.

"Besides economics and international trade, our strongest bond was our interest in Latin America and its travails and challenges. We spent many hours waxing and waning over the phone, whenever I could catch him given his busy schedule. While we decried Latin America‘s slow and turbulent path upward, Charlie never tired of providing impeccable crafted analysis of the region in his classic textbooks. The profundity that he tackled issues like import substitution industrialization was unparalleled.

He felt very strongly that economics was a key to both understanding and remedying the region’s problems. He was never sure Latin American governments would pay much attention but his textbooks became seminal works in the understanding of the Latin American problématique. He was by no means a naïve theorist. His  treatment of Latin America colonial economic history and its bearing today was simply masterful. I was a great benefactor as a teacher as were readers of his work."