Mary Esther Huber née Henrikson passed away on October 3, 2024 in Richmond, Indiana.

Mary is survived by her husband, Larry Huber of Richmond, Indiana; her son William Huber and daughter-in-law Ursula Askins Huber of Plymouth, New Hampshire, and daughter Johanna Huber Santa Rita of Baltimore, Maryland. She also leaves behind her grandchildren, Sterling Huber of Seattle, Washington, May Askins-Huber of Wenatchee, Washington; and Beatrice Santa Rita and Charlotte Santa Rita of Baltimore, Maryland; as well as her brother William Henrikson of Santa Barbara, California. She was predeceased by her son-in-law Michael Shreeve Santa Rita.

Mary Esther was born on February 23, 1943 in Johnson City, New York. She lived in Massachusetts as a child. She spent most of her childhood years in Grand Rapids, Michigan where her father, B.W. Henrikson, was an Executive at American Seating Company. Her mother, Mary Henrikson was a nurse.

Mary Esther graduated from East Grand Rapids High School in 1961. She went on to attend Northwestern University where she was an active member of the Alpha Delta Pi Sorority, Gamma Beta Chapter. She was fondly known there as Henney. She graduated from Northwestern in 1965 with a degree in English. That summer, she attended the Radcliffe Publishing Course where she met cultural icons such as Gloria Steinem and industry leaders from Conde Nast, Vogue, and Ms. Magazine. She met top writers of the time and spent weekends at J.D. Salinger's home on the Cape. Here, she developed connections that would help her to land her first job in New York City with J. Walter Thompson, the top advertising agency in the US on Madison Avenue. She later left her position there to work as an Assistant Fashion Editor at Woman's Day Magazine.

On April 16, 1966, Mary wed Larry Lee Huber of Connersville, Indiana, in a lavish wedding at East Grand Rapids UCC church. They met through friends when they both were working in New York City. They bought their first home in Lee, Massachusetts where both children were born.

In 1975, they moved from Lee to a new home on Yale Hill in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Mary was hired to help Senator Fitzpatrick with his election campaign. After the election, she was hired to work with the newly formed Country Curtains, which would end up being the nation's largest mail-order retail curtain company.

In 1977, Mary started her new venture as Founder and President of the advertising agency, M. Huber and Company. She served clients as diverse as Friendly's Ice Cream, GE, the religious community of the Shakers, photographer Clemens Kalischer, and Terrance Hill, the Italian movie star. Mary started a luncheon group with fellow women entrepreneurs in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. At this time, women were not allowed to be members of the Pittsfield Rotarian Club. This women's luncheon group would make sure to meet at the same restaurant and the same time as the Rotarians.

After selling the advertising agency, Mary began her career in shopping center management. She began as Marketing Director of Holyoke Mall in Holyoke, Massachusetts, eventually becoming Mall Manager.When she moved to Silver Spring, Maryland in 1991, she took on the position of managing the newly opened Silver Spring Mall. Eventually she became Manager of Annapolis Mall in Annapolis, Maryland.
Faith was an important part of Mary's life and she was an active member of every church she attended. In Lee, at the First Congregational Church, UCC she worked with the youth groups. In Stockbridge, she was a Deacon at the historic First Congregational Church, UCC. In Silver Spring, she attended Silver Spring United Methodist Church. Attending church service was a weekly event that was rarely missed.

No memorial service or funeral is planned. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to emilyslist.org.