Howard A. Christensen

Howard Alan Christensen of Fountain Hills passed from this life to the next on Dec. 3, 2014 after a characteristically fearless battle with cancer. He was 81.

A dedicated husband, father and grandfather, Howard was as proud of his family as he was of his extraordinary success as an entrepreneur, corporate executive and board director.

He was a true force of nature: a God-fearing, fun-loving workaholic who loved his family, his friends and the challenge of business, in that order, with unbounded enthusiasm and passion. Nothing was impossible to Howard, and he approached every one of his 81 years with endless zest, hope and energy.

Howard was born on Aug. 15, 1933 in Atlantic, Iowa, the third of three children of Sena and Jens Chris Christensen. He traced his love of family and strong work ethic to his Midwest roots and family farm life (plus a fierce appreciation of competitive football strategy), but chose to make his mark in the world by graduating from the University of Iowa and becoming a CPA with Arthur Anderson.

He soon proved his genius for corporate strategy and eventually founded his own company, Christensen & Associates, growing it into a leading global capital markets advisory firm.

In between, he served as vice president, strategic planning and investor relations, for the $6.5 billion American Natural Resources, a NYSE energy company.

There, as head of investor relations, he developed one of the first global state-of-the-art program templates for best-practice investor communications that is still in use worldwide and was deployed by the entire securities industry as a part of their marketing programs.

Howard also served as vice president, CFO and corporate secretary of St. Joseph Light & Power Company, St. Joseph, Mo.; and served on numerous corporate boards and committees, including Protection One, Topeka, Kan.; Research Magazine and Research Video, San Francisco, Calif.; and Blue Shield of Kansas City.

He also held leadership positions in multiple professional and non-profit organizations, and led strategic planning workshops in the U.S., Canada and Europe for hundreds of the world’s largest companies.

A conservative, practical businessman and stalwart Lutheran, Howard would scoff at the length of this obituary and question the need for a recitation of his accomplishments.

He preferred to look to the future rather than rest on the successes of the past. That is probably why, after receiving a terminal diagnosis for Stage IV cancer last January, he chose to use the last months of his life establishing a non-profit organization to provide free support services for terminal patients who are not yet eligible for hospice services.

Howard follows his beloved “bride,” Verla Suhr Christensen, who passed away on Oct. 24 after 61 happy years of marriage.

He is survived by daughters, Debra Harmon and husband, Joe, of Scottsdale; and their sons Zachary of Chandler, and Jacob of Denver, JoElyn Hennington and her daughters, Lindsey and Nicole of Scottsdale; a son, Jeff Christensen, his wife, Karen and their son, Tyler of Darien, Conn.; brother, Clifford, and his wife, Mary Ann of Atlantic, Iowa; and a number of nieces, nephews and cousins.

Howard is preceded in death by his parents; his half-brother, Ivan, and his wife, Winifred of Rockford, Ill.; and his sister, Norma Jean Sothman, and husband Kermit of Atlantic, Iowa.

Together in life and ever after, a joint celebration of Howard and Verla’s lives will be held on Saturday, Dec. 27, at 10 a.m. at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Fountain Hills.

Always thinking of how to be of service to those not as “lucky” as he, Howard asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Cancer Comfort Centers at cancercomfortcenters.org to help others facing terminal illness.