Charles Byron Renfrew

Charles Byron Renfrew (October 31, 1928 – December 14, 2017) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Renfrew also served as the 18th United States Deputy Attorney General from February 27, 1980, until the end of the day on January 19, 1981, and as acting United States Attorney General in his capacity as United States Deputy Attorney General, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 508, from the beginning of the day on January 20, 1981, following the resignation of Benjamin Civiletti as the 73rd United States Attorney General at the end of the day on January 19, 1981, until William French Smith assumed office as the 74th United States Attorney General on January 23, 1981.

Renfrew was born in Detroit, Michigan. He enlisted in the United States Navy after high school in the aftermath of World War II, from 1946 to 1948. He then received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Princeton University in 1952. He served in the United States Army from 1952 to 1953 and became a first lieutenant. He was a forward observer in Korea during the Korean War. He received a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1956, thereafter entering private practice in San Francisco, California, from 1956 to 1972.

On November 29, 1971, Renfrew was nominated by President Richard Nixon to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by Judge Gerald Sanford Levin. Renfrew was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 2, 1971, and received his commission on December 9, 1971. Renfrew served in that capacity until his resignation on February 27, 1980.

Following his resignation from the federal bench, he served as United States Deputy Attorney General until 1981. Renfrew was thereafter in private practice in San Francisco from 1981 to 1982. He was a vice president and counsel of the Chevron Corporation in San Francisco from 1983 to 1993. He returned to private practice in San Francisco in 1994. In 2013, he was listed as a NAFTA adjudicator. He died of heart failure on December 14, 2017.