CityView Magazine

Publisher’s Note Native sons I have known this issue’s Local Artist since he was a boy. Now he is the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Holden Thorp and his brother, Clay, grew up in Fayetteville. Their father, Herb Thorp, a successful lawyer, was a good friend of mine. We knew each other from church, playing golf and a friendly poker game held at Herb’s house every Tuesday night, years ago. The poker game is where I first got to know Holden and Clay because they were always hanging around when we played. I was the youngest player in the game by far; in fact, the main characters have all died, the last being former Fayetteville mayor Bob Butler, who died just this summer. Even as a child, Holden was a talented and brilliant boy who grew into the brilliant young man now leading the country’s oldest public university. The thing I remember best about him had to do with a Rubik’s Cube. The popular toy was first introduced in the late 1970s, and after weeks of trying, I could solve the puzzle in 15 or 20 minutes. Holden could do it in 32 seconds. He and his brother were playing music at an early age and were interested in just about any intellectual pursuit. Back then, the micro computer was just being developed. My brother and I started a hardware and software company to help small businesses adapt to this emerging computer age. (The company was before its time and folded a few years later.) Holden and Clay wrote computer programs for early computer models like the Radio Shack TSR 80. When IBM came out with the first personal computer, the Thorp boys were off and running. 12|August/September • 2009 Around the same time, I decided to try a pari-mutuel betting system for a golf tournament I was organizing. Of course, this would take a computer and the right program. Back then, there was no such software to be found, so Holden and Clay wrote it for us. They were still kids, ages 18 and 15 respectively. We used the program for years. Holden was also artistically talented like his mother, Bo. He even wrote and produced entire musicals, including two performed by Cape Fear Regional Theatre at Campbellton Landing. When Herb died in 1996, Holden and Clay gave a eulogy unlike any I had ever seen before or since. It was respectful, but unusual, with theatrical flair. I didn’t see Holden again until 2002 when he was chair of Chapel Hill’s chemistry department. The next time I saw him, he was chancellor. I was not the least bit surprised. Shortly after his appointment, my family held a fundraising golf tournament for a UNC scholarship in memory of my son Bob. I asked Holden if he would speak to the group of mostly UNC alumni. At the event, he said he had to show up because the Waren brothers had given him his first paying job. Herb would be so proud to see his son’s God-given talents on display on the world stage. We hope you enjoy reading about this Fayetteville native and his many talents. CV Marshall Waren, Publisher

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