Charles A. Nuzum | Watergate FBI agent, 85

Charles A. Nuzum, 85, the FBI agent who was in charge of the agency's investigation into the Watergate burglary, died Aug. 2 in Tallahassee, Fla., in an accidental fall.

Mr. Nuzum oversaw the probe into the June 17, 1972, break-in at Democratic national headquarters at the Watergate office complex when he was chief of the FBI's bankruptcy, antitrust and wiretapping unit.

The investigation, run from the FBI's Washington field office, uncovered the connection of the White House to the burglary, and the burglary to a wide-ranging set of crimes, undertaken to punish the perceived political enemies of the Nixon administration.

During World War II, Mr. Nuzum flew a B-24 Liberator bomber on 33 missions from a base in Italy. His military awards included the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and Purple Heart.

After his retirement from the FBI in 1975, he moved to Florida and became a state beverage-division chief in the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. At the time of his retirement in 1983, he was president of the National Conference of State Liquor Administrators.

- Washington Post