Charles Grimes, 71; rower won Olympic gold medal with Yale crew

Charles Grimes, 71, a member of the Yale varsity crew that won a gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics, died Monday of pancreatic cancer in New York City.

His eight-oar crew at the Melbourne Games was the last college team to win an Olympic rowing championship.

It was also the first to win the gold medal after losing in the first round. The U.S. crew won the repechage -- the race for teams that lose their heats -- and advanced to the semifinal and then the final, where it edged out Canada and Australia for the gold.

Grimes graduated from Yale in 1957 and from Harvard Law School in 1960. After a brief law career, he worked as an independent financial advisor and investor.