Environmentalists in Northern Virginia are mourning the death of prominent Green and environmental entrepreneur Paul Hughes, who passed away on Saturday, September 15. A long time resident of Fairfax County and retired government consultant, Hughes chaired the Northern Virginia local of the Green Party of Virginia. He also owned several environmentally friendly businesses that specialized in salvaging construction materials from demolition sites (Deconstruction Services) and selling them at a major discount from his Springfield warehouse (Rebuild Warehouse).
Not only did Hughes recycle building materials, he channeled the desperate and downtrodden into productive careers by hiring and training ex-cons and former drug addicts to do the work. Through his enterprises Paul demonstrated the potential for the green economy championed by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein as the Green New Deal.
I found this information by doing a Web search. I heard that Paul had died suddenly. Will there be a memorial service? Paul and my late husband were friends from years ago.
Paul Hughes’ family arranged two memorial services, one yesterday evening and one today which I posted to my social calendar. I’m sorry you missed these announcements.
The family wants to continue the environmental businesses that Paul labored to establish, but indicated that market conditions are not good.
I wonder if adverse market conditions produced the stress that led to Paul’s untimely heart attack.