Roger Dave Lyons, best known as "Charlie", was born in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in 1940. Lyons was first introduced to printmaking via linocut, a medium he later called a "cold, hard, dispassionate material" (Door County Living interview, July 1, 2006), and he abandoned it for painting and woodworking, which soon became his preferred medium. It wasn't until college that the artist discovered woodcuts, and it soon became his lifelong focus.

Lyons studied at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (1959 - '65) and University of Wisconsin, Milwaukie (1961 - '62), before the draft sent him to Vietnam in 1966. Upon his return in 1967 he began teaching workshops at Madison, where he was also was the special arts activities advisor to Wisconsin Memorial Union. A prolific exhibitor, Lyons first showed in his first year at college (1959) and nearly every year following, both solo and in group exhibtions, until his passing in 2007. Lyons was the first curator hired by the Miller Art Museum, from 1975 to 1988, and he was the director of the Paint Box Gallery from 1961 to 1963, and again from 1968 until 2007.

Charlie Lyons died on May 25, 2007 in Ephraim, Door County, Wisconsin.

Lyons' work is included in the permanent collections of the Madison Art Center, WI; the Wisconsin Memorial Union, U. of Wis., Madison; Wisconsin Hospital Assn., Madison; University of Wisconsin-Madison Print Studios; Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee; Prairie School, Racine, Wis.; Miller Art Center, Sturgeon Bay; and over 10,000 private collections in the U.S. and abroad.