Charles Lee Hellerich

Charles (“Chuck”) Hellerich died on August 28, with his adored wife, Lisa, by his side and in the beautiful home they created in Point Loma for their blessed decade together. Thanks to Lisa, Chuck was able to die as he lived, calmly and with dignity, surrounded by the beautiful vista of the San Diego Bay and the art Chuck and Lisa lovingly collected.

Chuck was born in 1943 to Williams and Sylvia Hellerich in the small farming village of Raymond, Nebraska, which has maintained a population of around 155 people. Chuck and his brothers, Tom and Bill, grew up on the family farm, attending little community schools until Chuck went to the metropolis of Lincoln to a high school on the University of Nebraska campus so that he could play basketball. He then attended the University of Nebraska, where he obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering. Chuck and Jean Perrin, a Lincoln, Nebraska native, met and married during their university studies. After Chuck received his MSME in 1968, the couple moved to Washington state where Chuck had an engineering job. Seeing there were a lot of layoffs in engineering, Chuck decided to pivot to the law and moved to Los Angeles to attend and graduate from the University of Southern California Law School. Always a fine student, Chuck was on Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif in 1973.

Chuck was then heavily recruited by the 100 year old San Diego prestigious law firm, Luce, Forward & Scripps. The firm,with around 50 lawyers, prided itself on only hiring “the best of the brightest”. Chuck spent over forty year at the firm initially as a highly regarded real estate transactional lawyer. Chuck was the firm’s Managing Partner from 1986 until 1994. Under Chuck’s full time management, the firm grew to 180 lawyers, opened branch offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Chicago, moved its San Diego office in 1991 to be the anchor tenant on over five floors of America Plaza. He led the effort to totally restructured the partners’ retirement program, which, literally saved the firm. Chuck also led the Partner’s Investment Program, a separate entity from the retirement program, for more than two decades. As Scott Sonne, who succeeded Chuck as Managing Partner, said, “But for Chuck’s stewardship, the law firm Luce Forward became would not have existed.”

The Luce Forward family, attorneys and staff, remember Chuck as the ultimate example of a great law partner, a wise and wonderful gentleman, a calming influence, patient, possessing the ability to bring everyone together without offending anybody, soft spoken but decisive with a wry sense of humor and a huge laugh.

Chuck was involved with every aspect of the design of the firm’s interior space at America Plaza and the firm’s unique and heralded art collection of prominent San Diego artists. Through this experience, Chuck developed a real taste for contemporary art and began his own personal collection. This interest propelled his long involvement with the San Diego Museum of Art. He spent 20+ years on the Board of Trustees of the San Diego Museum of Art and was its President twice. Chuck was involved with the hiring of the two brilliant directors of the Museum, Derrick Cartwright and Roxanna Velasquez. What happened at the Museum during Chuck’s tenure on the Board was transformative for the Museum and the City of San Diego. Derrick Cartwright remembers Chuck for his firm and gracious leadership style, encouraging dialogue, making tough decisions, but most of all, for “his modest, good nature, and wonderful laugh, which would spread across his entire face.”

Chuck always was involved with significant community service with a particular focus on midtown and the Balboa Park areas. As early as 1982, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Save Our Heritage organization, preserving historic buildings in the uptown middletown area. Appointed by Mayor Jerry Sanders in 2010, Chuck also was a founding member and Chair of the Balboa Park Conservancy Board, designed to improve and nurture our civic treasure.

Chuck’s wife, Jean, battled multiple myeloma for eight years, and Chuck was her exemplary advocate and caretaker. Jean died in 2011. These were not the golden years the couple envisioned. Chuck struggled but kept himself busy with old loves of golfing at San Diego Country Club, freshwater fishing with two groups of fishing buddies, and his work at SDMA.

And then Chuck’s gift of his golden years evolved as he began dating Lisa (Dick) Zinne, also a long time, dedicated San Diego Museum of Art board member. Love exploded, and Chuck and Lisa married in April 2014 on Kohala Coast on the Big Island 0f Hawaii. They often returned to the Kohala Coast, traveled throughout Europe to explore art treasures in Spain, Portugal, France, Norway, the Netherlands, England, and other countries, and travelled to major art venues in Toronto and the United States. They even took a sentimental trip to Raymond,and Lincoln Nebraska. Go Big Red

Chuck’s golden years sadly were cut short by Chuck’s own disease issues. But when they were golden, they sparkled and gleamed.

Chuck is survived by his wife, Lisa. His parents and brothers predeceased him.

A Celebration of Life for Chuck will be held at the San Diego Museum of Art on October 2nd at 5 pm. In memory of Chuck, be a kind and gentle person, enjoy a big, infectious laugh, and add a little joy to another’s life.