This website usually contains very little about our personal lives outside of how that pertains to gorillas or conservation issues.  More personal issues will be covered in my book, but this week we lost a very important person in our lives and I couldn’t let his passing go unacknowledged.

Before embarking on this unique and wonderful journey called Gorilla Haven, Steuart ran a computer company in Chicagoland called DISC, or Dewar Information Systems, Inc.  It was #115 on the INC 500 list of fasting growing privately held companies in 1988, and with the growth, came too much work for Steuart, who hired a president to run the day to day business of DISC, enabling Steuart to focus more on product design and programming, his forté.  The selection process to find a good candidate for president of DISC, also known in the industry as Dewar, was intense. I remember helping Steuart wade through almost 2,000 résumés and cover letters of people from around the country. Most were slick sales people claiming they could run the universe and huffing and puffing themselves up, making it easy to recognize the “Takers” from the “Givers.”

It was relatively easy to determine that Larry Justice  (photo taken in 1992) would be the best person for the job. He was soft spoken, easy going, assertive and effective and his values and morals were in line with the company’s, where honesty and good customer service were always more important than the entrepreneurial goals of growing the business.  Without going into great detail, the success of DISC quickly turned to incredible stress and tension, as the entire publishing industry went from proprietary to off the shelf computers (PC’s) and software. Anyone who didn’t change with the times went bankrupt and although Steuart headed one of the first companies to make that transition, we still came too close to losing everything for comfort.  Steuart equates the change to the invention of the car … The buggy makers who moaned about Ford and Edsel, but didn’t join the new Automotive Industry, were lost to history.

In 1994 as Steuart’s beloved mother was dying, he needed to spend time with her, leaving Larry to run the show. But then within weeks, Larry got his own bad news, as an aggressive cancer laid him up in the hospital for months, making our lives even more stressful as we commuted between Chicago and Gainesville, Florida. By some miracle, Larry recovered and returned to work, where he had been instrumental in keeping DISC running during the last years of its existence (we sold it in 1995).  Larry was a vital part of why DISC didn’t go bankrupt, as we watched competitors' businesses close their doors all around us.  During the incredibly stressful times, Larry’s warm smile was contagious and his integrity and intelligence were inspirational to those of us privileged to have known him.  Larry was a religious man but unlike some who try to knock you over converting you to their own beliefs, he just lived the life of a good Christian family man. It’s a rare combination in the cut throat world of business, but Larry could be a hard negotiator while keeping his kindness and fairness at the forefront.

Sunday evening, October 30^th, Steuart got an email from Larry’s daughter, who I remember as a sweet teenager, but who’s now a young mother and wife with 2 adorable children. Larry had a heart attack and when he was in the hospital they discovered the cancer had returned with a vengeance. The only choice was to send him home with hospice care. Steuart and I just looked at each other and decided after the Monday staff meeting, Steuart would get in his car and drive to Indiana to see Larry for the last time, while I stayed at GH taking care of our critters and business.

Steuart arrived Tuesday afternoon and while Larry was in and out of lucidity, he was alert and aware enough to recognize his old friend. Steuart got a chance to hold his hand and tell Larry personally, just how important and cherished he was in our lives. Steuart also repeated his highest compliment, when he told Larry that he was the only man on the planet he would ever consider working for – his respect and admiration for him were that immense. Friday November 4^th at 5 in the morning, Larry passed away.  His large and loving group of family and friends are all feeling the same incredible sadness and loss coupled with the comfort of knowing we were all privileged to have Larry in our lives.  I don’t know of too many people with the same level of integrity, honesty and basic goodness as Larry Justice, but as we raised a toast to his life and memory, we both knew we might not have been here at Gorilla Haven today, if it weren’t for Larry.

Dear Larry, Rest In Peace....