Wolfeboro, NH

Charles Emil Hugel Jr., 88, Dies

Charley Hugel passed away peacefully in his bedroom at the Sugar Hill Retirement Community in Wolfeboro on December 5, 2016 after several years of declining health.

Charley was born on August 9, 1928 in Plainfield, New Jersey to Charles and Alice (Durr) Hugel.  Charley graduated from Plainfield High School and Lafayette College in Easton, PA, and he always felt indebted to Lafayette for giving him a firm foundation that led to his successful business career.

Charley began working for New Jersey Bell Telephone Company in 1952 as a student engineer, and he retired some 30 years later from AT&T as an Executive Vice-President directly responsible for AT&T International, Bell Laboratories and Western Electric Company.  After retiring from AT&T, Charley immediately took on the position as CEO of Combustion Engineering where he later added Chairman of the Board to his title.  During his ten years at Combustion Engineering, he was responsible for negotiating the first joint venture between a US company and the Soviet Union.  Also of note was his tenure as non-Executive Chairman of the Board of RJR-Nabisco where he presided over the leveraged buyout of the corporation by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) which was documented in the book and associated motion picture, Barbarians at the Gate.  Charley was also chairman of the PGA Senior Tour, Chairman of the US/Soviet Trade Commission and the US/China Trade Council.

Charley met Cornelia (Nina) Fischer, a former grade school and high school classmate, in the lunch room at the Plainfield New Jersey Bell office in 1952, and they were married in April 1953.  Nina was the woman behind the man in their 64-year marriage and shared in many of his successes.  Charley began coming to Lake Winnipesaukee in the 1940’s with a high school teacher who took an interest in his development, and he vacationed at the lake each year until his retirement in 1991.  Charley and Nina were resident members at the Bald Peak Colony Club before moving to the Sugar Hill Retirement Community in 2015.

Charley is survived by his wife, Nina, his two sons Jeff and Chris, two granddaughters and a great-grandson.  There will be no funeral, but a memorial service will be held in the late Spring in 2017.

If desired, memorial donations may be made to his memory at Lafayette College in Easton, PA (http://www.lafayette.edu).

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