Durham City Council member Charlie Reece to resign from office for move to Europe

Council member Charlie Reece announced Monday night that he will resign from the Durham City Council effective March 7.

Reece said his wife will need to temporarily spend a substantial amount of time in Europe for business.

“Early last year, our family business began exploring the idea of buying a European company in order to expand our business opportunities there,” Reece said.

“Two months ago, we did just that, and as a result, our Chief Executive Officer, who also happens to be my lovely wife, Dr. Laura Helms Reece, will need to spend a lot of time working in Europe for the foreseeable future,” he said.

Laura Reece has been the CEO of Rho, a full service contract research organization based in Chapel Hill, since 2011.

Reece joined the Durham City Council as an at-large member in 2015. His current term ends Dec. 4, 2023, after he was re-elected in 2019.

In a statement he posted online, Reece called his council service the highest privilege of his public life.

“I’ve visited every public park in Durham, I’ve ridden every GoDurham bus route more than once, I’ve biked or run every mile of trail in this city, I’ve picked up roadside trash on far too many Durham streets, I’ve engaged in a little “light trespassing” on every property that’s come before this council for annexation or rezoning over the last several years, and I’ve hand-delivered countless KN95 masks to folks here in Durham during this awful pandemic,” he wrote in his statement.

“I’m proud of all that.I’ve also comforted families suffering from grief and trauma. I’ve helped arrange counseling and care for kids who’ve been traumatized by guns and violence. I’ve sat on porches with families waiting to see if the sheriff would come to evict them from their home. I’m proud of all that.

“And despite the fact that my wife will never forgive me for it, I’m proud that on a very hot day in 2017 in downtown Durham, I stepped in front of a massively muscled white supremacist who was wearing a really, really big knife, to prevent him from harming one of my constituents.”

Prior to joining the council, Reece’s career experience included working as a prosecutor, an assistant district attorney in Forsyth County and an assistant attorney general for the N.C. Department of Justice.

He also earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University in 1992 and received his juris doctorate from the University of North Carolina in 1995.

This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 7:55 AM.