Jack Huning leaves distinct legacy

The first time Patty Guggino met John L. "Jack" Huning, she had a lump in her throat worrying about Huning's reputation as a stern man. "I had always heard he was generous, but very stern," Guggino said. So in fear and trembling, she went to Huning's office to ask for a donation for a church fiesta she was helping organize. "He said, 'What do you need' and I said, 'We need a beef.' He was kind of startled a little bit, because a whole cow is a pretty big thing, but he just looked at me and said, 'Okay, you've got it.' And we were friends from then on." Guggino's anecdote is perhaps a CliffsNotes version of Huning, 81, who died Thursday from pneumonia he contracted after surgery. Stern and serious in nature, this third-generation Huning, who furthered the illustrious family's impressive legacy through his activism in the economic development of Los Lunas, was generous — almost to a fault. And behind the seriousness was a wisdom and wry sense of humor that made him a caring father, a successful rancher and a businessman whose management and development of the family's property was geared toward what was best for the village of Los Lunas. Huning fit seamlessly in a family that emigrated from Germany in 1858. Louis Huning established a merchantile and acquired vast land holdings that spanned the New Mexico-Arizona border...more