Kubet Luchterhand

Kubet Emil Luchterhand, a well known businessman and community leader in northern Door County, died in his sleep at the age of 80, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. Known by his friends as ‘Kubie’, he was known for his love of books, his vast intellect and his impertinent refusal to suffer repeated displays of ignorance.

Kubie was the first of four children born to Mary and Emil Luchterhand. He grew up on the family’s dairy farm located six miles west of Unity. Kubie was valedictorian of Colby High School’s Class of 1962. Classmates still revel in stories about his ability to assist and sometimes, correct the instructor of his calculus class. He earned a scholarship to Northwestern University in Evanston, 111., and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. A Woodrow Wilson Scholarship to the university of his choice enabled Kubie to acquire a master’s and a doctoral degree in anthropology from the University of Chicago.

Working as a consultant to the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research in the late 1960s, Kubie helped develop a process to ‘cast’ copies of early human fossils. The Georgia DNR employed him to make casts of archaeological material from the Etowah Mound, a site representing part of the great pre-Columbian socio-economic system that flourished in North America. The Chicago Field Museum of Natural History hired Kubie as a research associate from 1964 to 1988, first in anthropology and then in geology. This afforded him office and research space, admission to the museum’s library and to its extensive collection of fossils.

Kubie’s research involved numerous extended field trips to Colombia, Siberia, several countries in Africa and to multiple sites in this country. These trips involved ‘hands on’ digging, sifting, casting and classifying fossils and early tools to advance knowledge of human evolution. He was elected to The New York Academy of Sciences early in his career. The administrative red tape of academia caused Kubie to end a seventeen-year stent as a professor of anthropology at Roosevelt University in Chicago in 1985. He turned to his love of books and opened a used bookstore in Chicago. Kubie soon realized, “The landlord was the only one making money.” As a student of history Kubie knew William Caxton published the first book written in English. He adopted the name and opened William Caxton Ltd, Bookseller and Publisher in Sister Bay with a store that housed 40,000 books in 1988. Kubie believed a bookstore needed a ‘critical mass’ to attract customers and found the current William Caxton Bookstore in Ellison Bay; large enough to house 100,000 volumes. He was a voracious reader, and it was a rare occasion to find a book in his store he was not familiar with. The store was recognized as one of the 50 best bookstores in America by the New York Times, ranking number 26. Kubie published over 35 titles.

Serving on the Sister Bay Volunteer Fire Department for many years was an honor for Kubie. He was elected to the town board of Liberty Grove and served one term as chairman of the board.

Kubie is survived by his three siblings: Kathrene Beasley, Potterville, Mich.; Bryce Luchterhand, Unity and Debara Kuhlmann, Madison, and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

Paid obituary 172919