Charles Hart Andresen

Charles “Huck” Andresen, 84, passed away in his home with family by his side on September 8, 2025. He left us much sooner than he expected, but in the 20 months after his glioblastoma diagnosis, he lived life fully, and to the end was making plans for future adventures.

Huck was born January 25, 1941 in Duluth, Minn., and lived there all his life except for time in Minneapolis for law school and in Texas for basic training with the Air National Guard. Together with the love of his life, Karen, who he married in 1965, he raised three lucky kids.

He grew up in Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood (not Lester Park!), and he talked about those Lakeside days with great joy, and remained life-long friends with fellow Lakesiders. He graduated from East High School in 1959, and from UMD in 1963. At UMD he was the editor of The Statesman, a member of Alpha Nu Omega fraternity, and a giant UMD hockey fan. He went south to the University of Minnesota for law school where he became a Gopher hockey season ticket holder solely to cheer for their opponents.

He truly took joy in being a lawyer–the work, but especially his colleagues. For MANY years, he talked about “cutting back at work,” which he managed to do, sort of, in his early 80s. Then, he took the occasional Friday afternoon off, and (mostly) didn’t work weekends anymore. He officially retired at 84 (and still regularly stopped by the office). He had too many professional associations to list, but was especially proud of being a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, and the many seminars he taught for Minnesota CLE.

He loved travel and among many favorites were his trips to NYC and London to see Broadway shows (he loved Hamilton), to Scotland to golf with Karen, to the Indy 500 with brother Paul, and to London and Paris with granddaughter Maggie. He traveled to France twice *after* his glioblastoma diagnosis, including a bucket-list excursion to the Paris Olympics with his kids. He was a history buff and he loved air and space travel, and a life highlight was flying in a WWII-era B-29 with his grandson Max.

He was so involved in the Duluth community, and seemed to know everybody. Anywhere you went with him you’d hear “Hey Huck!” at least a time or two. He was chair of many boards: the DECC, Spirit Mountain, Chamber of Commerce, and Duluth Convention and Visitors Bureau. He was president of the Kitchi Gammi Club, and served on the boards of Second Harvest Northland and the Alworth Foundation. He was a member of the North Shore Striders; a youth hockey coach (who couldn’t really skate); and an avid skier who learned first aid to join the ski patrol at Spirit Mountain.

He took pride in his fitness – he golfed, skied and ran until age 84 (would have been a lot longer without the brain tumor), and could hold a plank longer than any of his children. He was a fixture at the YMCA, and started Pilates at 81. He ran his last half marathon at 80, and his last 5K – the Gobble Gallop – at 83 (he won a pie!), but acknowledged after both races that he needed to do some speedwork at the track. He loved bird hunting and trout fishing, and golfing with Karen.

He especially loved Grandma’s Marathon, which he ran multiple times, and considered race weekend a top holiday. It’s the perfect event for him: centered around running, his whole family participates, it celebrates Duluth, and, as he said, it’s “a true happening.” He was a long-time participant and volunteer, and in 2013 he received the marathon’s Ron Daws Ambassador Award. His other favorite holiday was Christmas, and he was an excellent gift-giver, despite being a terrible wrapper. His cherished Christmas traditions included a Tom & Jerry with great friends at the Pickwick, and dressing in a full Santa suit and beard for a Christmas Eve run, handing out candy canes along London Road.

He loved music and was a terrible but enthusiastic singer. He also was quite a bad artist, but he drew surprisingly expressive stick figures in the weekly letters he sent his kids while they were away at college. He was the family pancake maker, and for the last 26 years he specialized in griddling up snakes, dogs, and any other grandkid request.

Huck was a patient and loving caregiver for Karen as her health declined, and he was a model for his own caregivers after his diagnosis, especially grandson Max.

He had an incredibly positive outlook on life, all the way to the end–in the weeks before he passed away, he was still telling people that he planned to run Grandma’s half marathon in 2026. He brought that positivity to interactions with just about everybody he ran into, and he was always quick with a big smile and a kind word. He had so many joys in life, but his favorite thing was helping out a friend. He did that in many ways, and never with any expectation of recognition…he just loved doing things, big and small, to make another person a little bit better off.

Huck is survived by brother, Bill (Kathe;) and sister, Abby; kids, Angie (Randy Larson), Briar (Sjur Midness), and Glen (Brianna); his grandkids Max (Aviana), Maggie, Annika, Grete, Devin, Brynn, Cameron, and Eddie; as well as his niece and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul Sr. and Marjorie; brother, Paul Jr. (Carol); wife, Karen; and grandson, Alex.

A service will be held on Saturday, October 11 at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Duluth at 11:00 a.m. and a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the UMD Karen S. & Charles H. Andresen Scholarship at the Labovitz School for Business and Economics, Second Harvest Northland, or Young Athletes Foundation.