Obituary of John Neil Huber Jr.
John Neil Huber Jr. (“Neil”) passed away peacefully at the age of 80 in Rochester, New York, on the morning of January 31, 2024. He is survived by his three sons, Chris, Matt and Jeff Huber, and his siblings, Gayle, Bill and Ken Huber.
Neil was born in Albany, New York to his parents John and Anna Mae Huber on October 20, 1943. Early in life he moved to Syracuse, New York where he grew up taking an interest in baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals (listening late at night to the powerful St. Louis Radio station KMOX), and golf (taking up a job as a golf caddy). One of his first jobs was the very early morning 7-day-a-week newspaper delivery of the Syracuse Herald Journal.
He graduated from Hamilton College in 1965, and in the top third of his class at the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968, where he graduated with, and even tutored, the current President Joseph Biden. It was at the end of law school, where he met Meimei Lynn McMichael, who also graduated in 1968 from Syracuse’s Maxwell School. They married on August 18, 1968 at the Plymouth Congregational Church in downtown Syracuse and remained married for over 55 years. After so many years together on this earth, it is fitting they’re reunited after only 1.5 months (Meimei passed away December 15, 2023).
After school, Neil built a very successful law career. His first major job was the staff attorney on New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s Temporary Study Commission on the Future of the Adirondacks. This work was not only crucial to conserving the beautiful Adirondack region for future generations, but also developed Neil’s skills in real estate law with an attention to zoning. This work on the Adirondack commission was honored by the Syracuse University College of Law just this past Fall 2023.
Neil and Memei (and their son, Chris) moved from New York to St. Louis in 1972 - Meimei always joked this was only because of his beloved Cardinals – where Neil joined the law firm Bryan Cave. He eventually became a partner at the Peper Martin law firm in the late 1970s specializing in real estate law (and welcomed the births of his other two sons Matt in 1978 and Jeff in 1981).
In 1998, Neil helped orchestrate Peper’s merger with the larger Kansas City-based firm, Blackwell Sanders, which became Husch-Blackwell in 2008. Apart from his countless success as a lawyer, his colleagues remembered him as a generous and supportive mentor in the legal field.
Neil retired from Husch-Blackwell in 2012 and moved to Santa Rosa, California with his wife Meimei where they lived for nearly ten years. In 2021, they moved to Webster, New York to be closer to Neil’s brother Ken, son Matt, wife Angela, and granddaughter Loretta.
Neil was a brilliant lawyer, loving husband and father. He loved sports, playing golf, and more than anything else, he loved to laugh and share laughter with others. He remained upbeat, constantly cracking jokes, even in his last weeks. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him. Donations in his name can be Parkinson's Foundation at this link (he wanted this in honor of his loving wife who suffered from the disease).