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Mr. D. Brooks Zug ’63P
It’s been more than 45 years since D. Brooks Zug ’63P resided in Bethlehem, but he still manages to come across daily reminders of his Moravian Prep days.
Calming his nerves before stepping out to command his firm’s investor meeting, Mr. Zug draws upon confidence he developed in Glee Club. Pouring over client presentations produced by young members of his staff, he employs the grammar and punctuation rules impressed upon him by the English faculty.
And when he’s sitting in weekly song service held at the Pocono lake home community where he and his wife retreat, he finds himself singing the same hymns he sang from the pews of the Old Chapel. Constant mementoes from a school and a community that influenced the man he is today have certainly appeared in all forms for Mr. Zug.
Family Ties
A connection to the Moravian community began long before the days when Mr. Zug was tackling concepts in Mrs. Gertrude Fox’s math class and doing his diligence as firewatcher during Christmas vespers.
Raised in the Moravian faith, Mr. Zug’s mother, Jeanette Barres Zug, graduated from Moravian Preparatory School in 1924. After graduating from Wellesley College in 1928, the Great Depression brought Jeanette and her husband, Charles Keller Zug, Jr., back to their hometown for stable work during an uncertain time.
Jeanette returned to her alma mater to teach French and German (from 1928 to 1929), while Charles joined his father-in-law’s successful insurance agency. This position put him in contact with area executives who frequently hosted out-of-town businessmen and their wives.
While the men sorted out business matters, Jeanette made it her mission to keep the wives entertained. Together with longtime friend Miriam Reed Taylor, she led tours of the original Moravian buildings and cultivated an enthusiasm for the area’s early history. Their efforts are credited with the establishment of the Moravian Museum, walking tours, and other historic preservation initiatives we enjoy today.
With this kind of family lineage it should come as no surprise that all of the Zug children were enrolled in Moravian Prep. Eldest brother Charles Keller Zug III attended until eleventh grade, opting to skip his senior year and head straight to his father’s alma mater, Lehigh University, to prepare for a career in medicine. “He knew he wanted to go to medical school and just wanted to get on with it,” recalls Mr. Zug of his late brother, who later served as Chief of Surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital.
This inherent tenacity followed with brother Oliver “Barry” Barres Zug. He left Moravian after his junior year for an opportunity to attend Blair Academy in Blairstown, NJ, then on to Lehigh University. Mr. Zug’s sister, Jeanette Zug Fulton, graduated in 1961, and he followed two years later.
Decisive, Detailed, Driven
Family tradition continued as Mr. Zug headed to Lehigh University to earn his bachelor’s degree and serve as president of his class for three years. Then, when he completed his MBA at Harvard Business School in 1970, his career was sent on a trajectory he never could have imagined.
After several years in the investment banking business, Mr. Zug co-founded a venture capital firm in 1982 during a time when the industry was just emerging. “The whole private equity industry, including both venture capital and other kinds of private investment, was a very small piece of the world economy back then. Now it’s a much bigger piece,” he says.
Though he credits Harvard with preparing him for his “final step in the real world,” Mr. Zug says that his academic success was established much earlier. “What prepared me for all of this was Moravian Prep. Those early years gave me the fundamentals that laid the groundwork for success in my future career.”
Today his Boston-based company, HarbourVest Partners, is one of the world’s largest private equity firms, with offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bogotá, and London. What began as a two-man operation has now grown into a global firm with 260 employees.
Mr. Zug maintains a reputation among his colleagues as a detail-driven, decisive decision maker, eager to train the firm’s “next generation,” and quick to give credit to those who manage “the day-to-day nitty gritty.”
Foreign travel is one of the most interesting aspects of his work, he says. “When I tell people that I’m going to Beijing the first question they ask is, ‘Are you going for fun or for business,’ and I say, ‘Well, actually, it’s the same. I’m going for business, which is much more interesting than going as a tourist because I am constantly interacting with Chinese people.’”
Plans to retire in the next few years would afford him even more time with wife, Linda, their three children, David, Libby, and Katie, and six grandchildren. But until then, he’s still energized by a career he finds “exciting and challenging.”
The return to Central Moravian Church to receive this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award will find Mr. Zug coming home: to the brick paths he once walked, to the hymnal he sang from each day, and to former classmates who will be eager to share the homecoming of an old friend.
Back
And when he’s sitting in weekly song service held at the Pocono lake home community where he and his wife retreat, he finds himself singing the same hymns he sang from the pews of the Old Chapel. Constant mementoes from a school and a community that influenced the man he is today have certainly appeared in all forms for Mr. Zug.
Family Ties
A connection to the Moravian community began long before the days when Mr. Zug was tackling concepts in Mrs. Gertrude Fox’s math class and doing his diligence as firewatcher during Christmas vespers.
Raised in the Moravian faith, Mr. Zug’s mother, Jeanette Barres Zug, graduated from Moravian Preparatory School in 1924. After graduating from Wellesley College in 1928, the Great Depression brought Jeanette and her husband, Charles Keller Zug, Jr., back to their hometown for stable work during an uncertain time.
Jeanette returned to her alma mater to teach French and German (from 1928 to 1929), while Charles joined his father-in-law’s successful insurance agency. This position put him in contact with area executives who frequently hosted out-of-town businessmen and their wives.
While the men sorted out business matters, Jeanette made it her mission to keep the wives entertained. Together with longtime friend Miriam Reed Taylor, she led tours of the original Moravian buildings and cultivated an enthusiasm for the area’s early history. Their efforts are credited with the establishment of the Moravian Museum, walking tours, and other historic preservation initiatives we enjoy today.
With this kind of family lineage it should come as no surprise that all of the Zug children were enrolled in Moravian Prep. Eldest brother Charles Keller Zug III attended until eleventh grade, opting to skip his senior year and head straight to his father’s alma mater, Lehigh University, to prepare for a career in medicine. “He knew he wanted to go to medical school and just wanted to get on with it,” recalls Mr. Zug of his late brother, who later served as Chief of Surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital.
This inherent tenacity followed with brother Oliver “Barry” Barres Zug. He left Moravian after his junior year for an opportunity to attend Blair Academy in Blairstown, NJ, then on to Lehigh University. Mr. Zug’s sister, Jeanette Zug Fulton, graduated in 1961, and he followed two years later.
Decisive, Detailed, Driven
Family tradition continued as Mr. Zug headed to Lehigh University to earn his bachelor’s degree and serve as president of his class for three years. Then, when he completed his MBA at Harvard Business School in 1970, his career was sent on a trajectory he never could have imagined.
After several years in the investment banking business, Mr. Zug co-founded a venture capital firm in 1982 during a time when the industry was just emerging. “The whole private equity industry, including both venture capital and other kinds of private investment, was a very small piece of the world economy back then. Now it’s a much bigger piece,” he says.
Though he credits Harvard with preparing him for his “final step in the real world,” Mr. Zug says that his academic success was established much earlier. “What prepared me for all of this was Moravian Prep. Those early years gave me the fundamentals that laid the groundwork for success in my future career.”
Today his Boston-based company, HarbourVest Partners, is one of the world’s largest private equity firms, with offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bogotá, and London. What began as a two-man operation has now grown into a global firm with 260 employees.
Mr. Zug maintains a reputation among his colleagues as a detail-driven, decisive decision maker, eager to train the firm’s “next generation,” and quick to give credit to those who manage “the day-to-day nitty gritty.”
Foreign travel is one of the most interesting aspects of his work, he says. “When I tell people that I’m going to Beijing the first question they ask is, ‘Are you going for fun or for business,’ and I say, ‘Well, actually, it’s the same. I’m going for business, which is much more interesting than going as a tourist because I am constantly interacting with Chinese people.’”
Plans to retire in the next few years would afford him even more time with wife, Linda, their three children, David, Libby, and Katie, and six grandchildren. But until then, he’s still energized by a career he finds “exciting and challenging.”
The return to Central Moravian Church to receive this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award will find Mr. Zug coming home: to the brick paths he once walked, to the hymnal he sang from each day, and to former classmates who will be eager to share the homecoming of an old friend.
