In Memoriam, Harry Huge
It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our Founding Partner, Harry Huge, who left this world late this April.
Harry was a Founding Partner at Change Ventures. It was one of many ventures he launched over the course of his life. We owe Harry a tremendous debt of gratitude for taking a chance on our team as emerging venture capitalists.
To say that Harry lived a rich and varied life would be an understatement. His career took so many interesting turns and leaves one in awe at all of his accomplishments. To name a few, from 1977 to 1981, he served as a member of the President Jimmy Carter’s General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Strategic Weapons. During his long and successful law career, Harry took leading roles in several landmark cases, such as an arbiter to the National Tobacco Arbitration Panel, chairman of the United Mine Workers Health and Retirement Fund, and sole Trustee of the Shook & Fletcher Asbestos Settlement Trust. He also served as Managing Trustee of the Armstrong World Industries Asbestos Settlement Trust. Yet when reminded of his many accomplishments, he humbly replied — “But you should know that I am just a farm boy from Nebraska.”
Estonia always had a special place in Harry’s heart. He was recipient of multiple awards and honorary roles, including receiving the Medal of the Order of the Cross Terra Marina in June 2006, for his efforts in Washington in assisting Estonia to regain independence. Harry was later also named as Honorary Consul of the Republic of Estonia, for the state of South Carolina. His charitable foundation made generous donations to university programs TalTech Mectory, Prototron and University of Tartu Startup Lab. The foundation also created and funded the “Network Globally, Act Locally” (NGAL) program that has over the years provided scholarships and prizes for hundreds of student entrepreneurs from the University of Tartu and Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia, Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the College of Charleston and The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina.
As the years passed, Harry maintained a drive and energy similar to that of his fellow Nebraskan, Warren Buffet. He continually sought new opportunities, acknowledging that most of these projects would contribute to his legacy for future generations. In many ways, Harry was all about building bridges — both between regions he cared about as well as people in which he saw potential. It was all fuelled by his philanthropic DNA. And this is also where we have the honour and duty to continue Harry’s work and take his legacy further. To keep his vision alive as the source of inspiration and a thread connecting the past and the future.
Harry was a man who worked and lived by his principles. A man of great moral courage and integrity, accompanied by fine sense of humor. He was an exceptional father and husband. He is survived by his wife, Reba and son, Ted. He touched so many lives and will be greatly missed.
