News Releases for August 2004
August 11, 2004
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Hoeven Presents Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award To Harry J. Pearce
BISMARCK, N.D. - Governor John Hoeven today presented the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award to Bismarck native Harry J. Pearce, national business leader and philanthropist. Pearce is the 34th North Dakotan to receive the award.
"Harry is a brilliant role model, inspirational business leader and humanitarian who attributes his professional achievement and personal compassion to his North Dakota heritage," Hoeven said. "Throughout his career, he has always reached back to his North Dakota roots. He has been a strong advocate and supporter in moving North Dakota's economic development efforts forward, preserving our quality of life and maintaining our education system as the best in the nation."
A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Pearce served his country as a staff judge advocate and a military judge. He was the first recipient of the U.S. Air Force Academy's distinguished graduate award. He earned his juris doctor degree from Northwestern University School of Law.
Pearce emerged as one of North Dakota's prominent leaders early in his career as a senior partner in the law firm of Pearce & Durick in Bismarck from 1970-1985. He helped rewrite the North Dakota Criminal Code and Rules of Criminal Procedure while serving on several volunteer judicial and legislative committees, and served as a police commissioner, a municipal judge and a U.S. magistrate.
General Motors (GM) recruited Pearce in 1985 to serve as associate general counsel, and within two years, he was named GM's executive vice president and general counsel. In 2001, he was elected chairman of the Hughes Electronics Corporation Board of Directors, a subsidiary of GM. He retired from GM in 2003.
"As a senior GM officer and director, Harry was at the center of General Motors' turnaround in the 1990s," said Tom Gottschalk, executive vice president and general counsel of General Motors Corporation in Detroit. "He exemplifies all the qualities of a good leader - strategic vision, concern for people, insightful judgment and absolute integrity."
Pearce serves on numerous boards and has received several state and national awards. He is a board member of MDU Resources Group, Inc., and is an active supporter of North Dakota's education system, the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony, the Nature Conservancy and numerous other state organizations. He has served on the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation Board of Directors and the Bismarck Hospital Board of Trustees and Executive Committee. He serves as co-chair of the Presidential Commission of the United States Postal Service and as a trustee for the United States Council for International Business.
"I admire Harry as much for his accomplishments as a person as I do for his accomplishments as a businessman," said Martin White, chairman of the board, president and CEO of MDU Resources Group, Inc. in Bismarck. "He could have joined any board in corporate America, but he chose ours because of its North Dakota roots. His contributions to the corporation as lead director have been immeasurable."
Pearce has turned his personal battle with leukemia into a public mission, serving on the boards of six different national foundations that support leukemia and bone marrow research and treatment.
"The Marrow Foundation and our partner, the National Marrow Donor Program, have benefited from Harry Pearce's deep commitment to our mission to save lives through marrow and blood cell transplantation," said Jill McGovern, chief executive officer of The Marrow Foundation in Washington, D.C. "This award represents richly deserved recognition of Mr. Pearce's efforts to give countless patients a second chance at life."
"Harry Pearce is also someone who has battled and overcome his own health challenges and then used that experience to reach out and help others," Hoeven said. "He is a true inspiration for all of us."
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