The Notre Dame family has lost two giants: the Reverend Theodore Hesburgh, who died Thursday night, and Professor Charles Rice, who died the day before. The two men were on opposite sides of most political issues but united in their love of Our Lady and her university.

Father Ted will understandably get more press attention, but Charlie Rice’s passing deserves its own mention. In the memorial posted at the law school, the dean writes that “for generations of students Professor Rice was a foundational pillar of the Notre Dame Law School.” The dean notes the other things that defined Charlie: He was a Marine, a consultant to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and an early champion of the pro-life movement.

Let me add just one vignette that speaks to the man. As a freshman at Notre Dame in 1976, I knocked on the professor’s door at the law school. We had a family connection: We were close friends with the family of one of his roommates from Holy Cross. In his office that day, Charlie treated me as if I were the most important man on campus.

Later that year, I had the bright idea of having Charlie speak on the pro-life cause. He agreed to do it, and I got to work, papering the campus with hundreds of yellow fliers heralding the talk, which was to be given in the fairly spacious library auditorium. When the night came, perhaps four people showed up. I was mortified. But Charlie told me not to worry — you had to go with what you got — and he spoke to that crowd as if there were four hundred of them: with wit, with wisdom, and with grace. And he treated this embarrassed young freshman as a colleague. I will never forget that example.

The Marine Corps hymn reminds us that the streets of heaven are guarded by United States Marines. We know those streets are in good hands, because Charlie Rice has just reported for duty.