He used his soft drink fortune better Huron now the man who’s lent his name and wealth to a number of projects around Huron has passed away. Earl Nordby died Tuesday at Huron Regional Medical Center. Nordby’s bottling empire got it start back in the mid-1960’s and grew to a Pepsi-Cola operation that had a production and vending headquarters in Huron, with satellite warehouses in Mitchell, Pierre and Chamberlain. It’s service territory extended from Salem to Kadoka. Nordby used the beverage business to spur philanthropy. In 2011, he purchased to the Huron University campus to allow the City of Huron to build the Splash Central water park…
Nordby also donated money to help build the Nordby Center for Recreation in Huron. He put millions of dollars into projects in the City of Mitchell including a million dollars for projects at Mitchell Technical Institute, 240-thousand dollars for building a new soccer complex and in 2005, money to help turn the former Soukup and Thomas International Balloon and Airship Museum into the Pepsi-Cola Theater for the Performing Arts. Most recently, Nordby gave one million dollars to a project he won’t have the chance to see completed. The Nordby Exhibit Hall for 4-H, Youth and Community on the South Dakota State Fairgrounds in Huron….
Months later he went on to extend a challenge to the state’s 4-H youth, to the tune of a half million dollars….
While Nordby will not have the opportunity to see the Nordby Exhibit Hall’s grand opening, he did have a chance to start construction…
Nordby was inducted into Beverage World magazine’s Hall of Fame in 2004 and the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1997. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Kuhler Funeral Home in Huron. His service will be Monday March 7th at the First Presbyterian Church with a lunch to follow at the Huron Event Center. Visitation is Sunday March 6th from one to seven pm at the funeral home with family present from five to seven. Nordby was 85 years old.