It wasn't easy. In the last few weeks, we have been mourning the loss of a dear friend, our company's president and publisher for magazines and books, Hugo Van haecke, who passed away on August 19, 2015, in his hometown of Denver, CO.
Hugo Van haecke was instrumental in ensuring the continuity and evolution of audioXpress and Voice Coil since the Edward T. Dell, Jr. and Audio Amateur days. Ed Dell started the publications in 1970, launched Speaker Builder in 1980, Glass Audio in 1987, and Voice Coil in 1987. In 1996, Audio Amateur was renamed Audio Electronics and, in 2001, Audio Electronics, Speaker Builder, and Glass Audio were combined into the single, monthly periodical audioXpress.
When Ed Dell started early discussions to sell the business to the Elektor group, based in the Netherlands, Hugo was his main contact. Hugo, who lived in the US since 1999, was an exceptional manager and expert accountant and worked as a consultant to several European publishers, including Elektor. He was instrumental in providing the necessary trust that ultimately convinced Ed Dell that the titles would be in good hands.
Years ago, I met Hugo for the first time in Elektor's headquarters. We had a long chat that neither of us would forget, over a few glasses of wine. When I was asked by Elektor to join audioXpress, Hugo was there and he was decisive in consolidating the ideas we had for the publications and the company. A nice, straightforward, no nonsense kind of guy, Hugo always knew the latest company figures and encouraged new ideas while demanding accountability. An expert traveler, he was the kind of person who would volunteer to plan a business trip to make sure we didn't overspend and everyone would travel safely.
Hugo was the manager who made us feel good, even in the most difficult circumstances, and it was probably that unique personality that also convinced everyone to keep going a year ago, when our business was again consolidated with Circuit Cellar magazine (another title acquired by Elektor in 2012), and placed back into the hands of its original founder, Steve Ciarcia.
While he could have chosen just to enjoy a well-deserved retirement, Hugo promised to take care of business, inducing the necessary confidence in every member of our team. In the last month of June, Hugo joined our team at the InfoComm15 show in Orlando, FL, just before we gathered with Steve Ciarcia for a strategic planning meeting, where we defined the next steps well into 2016.
That's the plan we have and why we are still able to face forward with confidence, while deeply missing him.
Thank you Hugo.
Hugo Van haecke's obituary is published in the October 2015 editions of audioXpress and Voice Coil.
