Henry Wendt III

HENRY WENDT III of Gladwyne PA, passed away peacefully April 11, 2024, aged 90.

Henry was born July 19, 1933 in Neptune City, NJ and grew up in Sands Point on Long Island. He often spoke fondly of his Appaloosa horse, "Smoky," he rode bareback after school. The day after graduating in 1955 from Princeton University, he went to work at Smith, Kline and French, as a doctor-to-doctor salesman. From 1965 to 1968 he was sent to Japan to open up the business there. These were important years for him, and from there he moved up through CEO, and eventually Chairman of SmithKline Beecham. Following that chapter of his life, he went on to become Founder and Chairman of Global Health Care Partners, a unit of CSFB Private Equity, specializing in investments in health care businesses from 1996 until 2002, and then as Chairman of the Investment Committee and Partner of Caxton Healthcare Acquisition LLC until his full retirement in 2006.

Mr. Wendt is the author of Global Embrace, a book published by Harper Business in 1993.

He had a significant collection of antique maps. In 2004, the Sonoma County Museum presented its first exhibit of maps from the Wendt collection, "Mapping the Pacific Coast." The second collection, "Envisioning the World: The First Printed Maps, 1472-1700," was exhibited there in 2010. He also had a number of old Japanese maps.

Henry and his wife, Holly, lived in Healdsburg from the early-1980's until they moved to Friday Harbor, Washington in 2006. They are the founders and former owners of Quivira Estate Vineyards and Winery on West Dry Creek Road in Healdsburg.

Mr. Wendt served multiple terms as Chairman of the Community Foundation of Sonoma County. In 2007, he was awarded the Wetzel Community Leadership Award for "his leadership in making the Healdsburg District Hospital campaign a success, as well as his superb guidance and experience to help the Foundation expand its resources and reach."

Through the Foundation of Sonoma County, he and his wife contributed $100,000 to the Healdsburg High School Library, allowing for significant modernization of the facility which is now named after the Wendt couple.

In later years he made large contributions to various environmental causes, helping set aside large tracts of land from further development.

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Perhaps his greatest love was sailing. Starting in 1969 in the San Francisco Bay, he was never long without a boat. He raced often in Alaska, and sailed across the Atlantic in 1992, from Annapolis, MD to Scotland.

?Mr. Wendt is survived by his wife of 67 years, Holly (Peterson); his children Chelsea Wendt (Moe) and Laura Mitchell (Kenneth); three grandchildren (Taliesen Wendt, Owen and Diana Mitchell); two great grandchildren, Availina and Oisin; and two of his three sisters, Martha Nesbitt and Nancy Evans.

Published in Healdsburg Tribune · May 13, 2024