Charles Post, 94, retired tax, trust attorney

Charles D. Post, a retired tax and trust attorney at Goodwin, Procter & Hoar in Boston, died of pneumonia and heart failure Thursday at his home in Westwood.

He was 94.

Mr. Post grew up in Syracuse, N.Y. He graduated from Harvard College in 1931 with a bachelor of arts degree in history and from Harvard Law School in 1934.

Mr. Post joined the law firm of Goodwin, Procter & Hoar in 1934 and became a partner in 1942.

"He had a quick wit and a keen insight," said his daughter, Carolyn Post of Baltimore. "He had a curiosity about everything."

Mr. Post was known throughout Boston as a specialist on real estate investment trusts, his daughter said. He had worked for years with the US Treasury and Congress to draft, press for enactment, and negotiate revisions in the 1960 legislation establishing the tax-free status of real estate investment trusts, his daughter said.

He also worked with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

He was a founder of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.

From 1967 to 1969, Mr. Post was president of the World Affairs Council of Boston, a private, non-profit, nonpartisan forum for educating the public about matters of national and international signifi- cance. He was the director until 1992.

Mr. Post was president of the Boston Tax Forum for five years, before retiring in 1980, and was treasurer of the Federal Tax Institute of New England for 25 years.

During World War II, Mr. Post served as an air combat intelligence officer in the Navy, primarily in the Southwest Pacific. He was awarded the Bronze Star for intelligence work and liaison activities.

Mr. Post began focusing on tax law in the 1930s. Beginning in 1947, he became active in the American Bar Association and later became a member of its council and chairman of various committees, including the Federal Income Tax Committee and the International Tax Committee.

He represented the American Bar Association on the first Advisory Committee to the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington.

He served on the first American Bar Association Committee on Specialization and was chairman of the Federal Tax Committee of the Massachusetts Bar Association.

He was a member of the Federal Tax Institute of New England, the Boston Committee on Foreign Relations, and director of the International Business Center.

"He held himself and others to a high standard," said his daughter.

"He believed in accomplishments and challenged us all to do our best."

Mr. Post was a former chairman of the Wellesley Advisory Committee and chairman of the Weston Advisory Committee.

He leaves two other daughters, Penelope Post of Los Angeles and Alison Spikell of Fairfax, Va.; two sons, Dudley of Brookline and Allan of Monterey, Calif.; and five grandchildren. His wife, Cynthia (Dudley), died in 1995.

A funeral will be held today at 2 p.m. in First Parish Church in Weston.