Harry Jonathan Pearce, age 83, passed away peacefully at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan on October 14, 2025.
Harry was born on August 20, 1942 in Bismarck, ND to William Ridgely and Jean Murray Pearce. He grew up close to his two older brothers, Murray and Bill. His early interest in rocketry led him from Valedictorian of Bismarck High School to the U.S. Air Force Academy where he earned a BS in engineering in 1964. When color blindness kept him from becoming a fighter pilot, he earned his JD from Northwestern and joined the USAF Judge Advocate General Corps. He met the love of his life, Kathy Bruk, an elementary school teacher, in Chicago, marrying her after a brief courtship. After military stations in Illinois, England, and Holland, he and Kathy moved back to Bismarck to raise their three children, Shannon, Susan, and Harry Mark. Following brief stints as a municipal judge, police commissioner, and federal magistrate, he joined his father’s law firm that would become Pearce and Durick. For 15 years he tried and won product liability lawsuits throughout the country, culminating with a monumental victory for General Motors in the X-Car lawsuit. He then moved his family to metro Detroit to become Associate General Counsel at GM in 1985 and was appointed to Vice President and General Counsel in 1987. As General Counsel, Harry orchestrated a masterful and inspirational televised takedown of NBC Dateline’s rigged testing of GM’s C/K pickups in 1993, which helped catapult him to become Vice-Chairman of GM in 1996.
A grim leukemia diagnosis in 1998 changed the path of his life. His brother Bill’s perfect match stem cell transplant saved his life against all odds. Harry retired from GM in 2001, regained his health and later was named Chairman of Hughes Electronics, Chairman of Nortel Networks, and Chairman of Montana Dakota Utilities, headquartered in his favorite city of Bismarck. Throughout this time, he served as a long-time board member of Marriott.
Harry turned his personal battle with leukemia into a public mission, serving on the boards of the Bone Marrow Foundation, the National Bone Marrow Transplant Link, the Stewart Francke Leukemia Foundation, Sabriya’s Castle of Fun Foundation, Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, as Chairman of the GM Cancer Research Foundation, Chairman of the Marrow Foundation, and as President of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Research Foundation. He created LifeMatch Bone Marrow drives at GM to expand the donor registry, donated to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center that had saved his life, and helped countless people through life-threatening medical diagnoses, including the creation of an Emmy award-winning film.
Of the multiple accolades he earned, Harry was most proud of those that reflected the values and ethics engrained in him during his upbringing in North Dakota and studies at the Air Force Academy. He was awarded the U.S. Air Force Academy’s first-ever Distinguished Graduate award in 2001 and the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award, North Dakota’s highest honor, conferred in 2004.
Harry was committed to serving his nation, chairing the Presidential Roundtable on Cancer, the Presidential Commission on the U.S. Postal Service, Yale University’s Chairmen’s Forum on corporate governance, the U.S. Air Force Academy Sabre Society and Board of Visitors, and the U.S. Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. He served on the Board of Trustees for Northwestern University, Howard University, United States Counsel for International Business, and New Detroit Inc.
Harry believed in giving back, with generous donations to the U.S. Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, U.S. Air Force Academy, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Kathy Bruk Pearce Fund for Breast Cancer Research at the University of Michigan, Beaumont Hospital, Northwestern University, and the Detroit Achievement Academy, among other charities.
At General Motors, Harry is credited for vehicle safety innovations that spread throughout the automotive industry, including vehicle telematics with the life-saving OnStar Automatic Crash Response system, event data recorders that capture details of a car crash and help improve safety, and glow-in-the-dark trunk releases to prevent the entrapment of children. He was instrumental in the advancement of GM’s alternative powertrain technology, from the industry’s first modern electric vehicle, the EV1, to the 108 mpg hydrogen fuel cell Precept with 130 innovations. Using his influence at GM, he increased the diversity of the country’s law firms by formally encouraging them to hire more qualified women and minorities. He led GM’s decision to purchase the Renaissance Center, sparking the revitalization of downtown Detroit’s riverfront. In 1993, he developed a visionary and groundbreaking set of ethical corporate governance guidelines for GM, over 10 years before they would be required by the SEC for all publicly traded companies.
At home, Harry’s knack for handyman repairs was legendary. He enjoyed some unique hobbies, creating an incredible Lionel railroad layout, hand-crafting beautiful wooden furniture, toys, and Pinewood Derby cars for the whole family in his full woodworker’s shop, and looking to the stars in his observatories.
Above all, Harry knew family was the most important part of his life. After the passing of his wife Kathy in 2006, he enjoyed his later years with longtime companion Susan Kilbride. Left to cherish his memory and continue his legacy are Susan Kilbride and family, daughters Shannon Baker (George) and Susan Pikal (Rob), son Harry Mark Pearce (Katie), grandchildren Hal, Pearce, Jack, Kayla, Claire, Keaton, Harry William and Colton, and great granddaughter Josie.
Visitation will be held 4-8 pm on Friday, October 24 at the Lynch and Sons Funeral Home, 1368 N. Crooks Rd in Clawson, Michigan. Harry’s Celebration of Life ceremony will take place at 11 am on October 25 at First United Methodist Church, 1589 W. Maple Rd in Birmingham.
View the complete obituary here: https://www.lynchandsonsclawson.com/obituaries/Harry-Jonathan-Pearce?obId=45906090
