Area builder stays creative

He serves roles for higher-ed institutions.His grandfather began the family business in 1870.

Contact this contributing writer at pgmcginnis45419@yahoo.com.

Don Huber of Beavercreek, 83, a longtime homebuilder and Dayton native, is a strategic thinker.

Between his strategic thinking, his creativity, his desire for solutions and his business connections, Huber was in a position to sponsor a Wind Feasibility Study conducted last semester at the University of Dayton.

The study was designed to help students learn the practice of engineering. The purpose of the study was to look at the feasibility of integrating wind-driven generators into the architecture of residential structures.

Having been in the home-building business for nearly seven decades, Huber said he was excited and interested in how the students would tackle the challenge. “I was very impressed with the study the students presented. I would give them an A for the engineering aspect,” said Huber. “But applying the engineering in real life is what I’m interested in.”

One of five children, Huber grew up on land of the Fred Patterson estate in Oakwood. “My dad gave some of our land to the church, which is now the Lutheran Church of Our Savior.” Huber graduated from Oakwood High School and went on to receive a business degree at Northwestern University.

Huber and his wife of 50 years, Veronica, have recently relocated from their longtime home in Oakwood to Willowcreek in Beavercreek, one of Huber’s latest developments.

The couple has two grown daughters. Huber has always been passionate about higher education. His service in that capacity includes the Ohio Board of Regents, member of the Wright State University and Bowling Green State University boards of trustees and a board member for the Kettering College of Medical Arts.

Huber’s grandfather, Jacob Huber, began the family business in 1870. Later, his father Herbert C. Huber founded the Herbert C. Huber Construction Corp. “I remember when I was 14, I built several houses next to the houses my dad was building and sold them.” Although he finished high school and college, Huber was destined to carry on the residential construction business.

But the business that fascinates and motivates Huber most these days is “getting the ball rolling,” he says. Through his many business contacts in a variety of industries from engineering to health care, Huber is stimulated by conversations about challenges and resolutions. His next ‘visionary project’ could be in the area of biology and neurology. “I’d love to get something started that would bring the brightest and best in those fields here to Dayton. I think we have the potential of being the next Silicon Valley. This area is a great place to bring business and ideas.”

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