Hughes family notes - [keep private]

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)

Author: STEVE LUTTNER POLITICS WRITER

Dateline: LYNDHURST

Political legend Robert E. Hughes died yesterday after he was found unconscious on the garage floor at his Lyndhurst home.

Hughes, chairman of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party for a record 23 years, was taken by ambulance to Meridia Hillcrest Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:20 p.m. He was 63.

Cuyahoga County Coroner Elizabeth K. Balraj said a cause of death had not yet been determined. Balraj said the coroner's office investigates all unexpected deaths.

Hughes' body was found by his son, David, who stopped by his father's house about 12:30 p.m. yesterday. Lyndhurst Police Chief Sherwood Eldredge said police were investigating Hughes' death, but "it doesn't appear there was any foul play or anything strange."

"There was nothing to indicate anything out of the ordinary, to indicate suicide or foul play," Eldredge said.

Eldredge said Hughes' car was running when his son found the body. The police chief didn't know if the garage door was open or closed, but David Hughes said in a brief interview yesterday that the garage door was closed and his father was on the floor.

also said the car's hood was up. Eldredge said Hughes may have been working on his car.

"I really don't know," David Hughes said when asked what his father was doing in the garage. Hughes' wife,

, was not at home when her son arrived.

The quick-witted, outspoken Hughes served as chairman of the Cuyahoga County GOP from 1968 until early this year, when he quit to form a consulting firm, Robert E. Hughes & Associates Inc.

Joseph Rice, executive vice president of the new firm, said Hughes was in good spirits when the two talked Tuesday and that Hughes had been in good health.

"The firm was doing very well," Rice said.

Hughes was a registered lobbyist in Columbus, where records show his clients included Bear Stearns Cos., Carat Co., the Cleveland law firm of Armstrong Gordon Mitchell & Damiani, Excel Management Systems, and Beachwood Dr. David Grischkan.

Rice said he expected the firm, which employed five people including Hughes, to stay in business.

Tributes were quick to arrive yesterday from a broad spectrum of political leaders who were influenced by Hughes during his three decades in politics.

A White House spokesman said yesterday: "We deeply regret that Bob Hughes passed away. He was a pivotal leader in Ohio Republican politics. We will miss his guidance."

Gov. George V. Voinovich said: "Bob Hughes truly became a legendary political leader in his own time. He was highly responsible for getting me involved in politics and government. Bob will be remembered for his wit, personal charm, media savvy, street smarts and uncanny sense of political timing."

Ohio House Speaker Vernal G. Riffe, a Democrat who enjoyed a long relationship with Hughes, said: "In partisan politics, Bob was a worthy adversary. However, most of all, Bob was a friend. He was a man who truly enjoyed life, and he will be missed."

Mayor Michael R. White, also a Democrat, said he had often sought Hughes' advice since he was elected mayor in 1989.

"He never failed to assist or advise me on a number of issues," White said.

Ohio Senate President Stanley J. Aronoff, R-8, of Cincinnati, said Hughes' "political instincts ran ahead of the public mood and were almost always on target."

Former Gov. Richard F. Celeste, a Democrat, said, Hughes "played the game of politics the best way - hard and clean."

Former Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich said: "He understood politics better than most people I know who are party leaders. Many Democrats were quite envious of the leadership he provided for the Republicans."

But while Hughes affected a lot of politicians over the years, no political relationship was closer than the one he had with former Gov. James A. Rhodes. Hughes was at the top of his career in politics while Rhodes was governor, when the two talked almost daily by telephone.

"I was saddened to hear of the passing of one of my dearest friends, Bob Hughes," Rhodes said in a statement yesterday. "Bob was devoted and dedicated to Cleveland and Cuyahoga County and was without doubt the greatest county political leader in the nation."

Born in Massillon, Hughes moved to Warren and graduated from Harding High School in 1946. He worked as a reporter at the Tribune Chronicle in Warren while he attended high school and college.

He graduated in 1950 from Ohio State University with a degree in journalism, then joined the Marines. A voracious reader, Hughes was a military history buff who had visited almost every major Civil War battlefield.

After his discharge from the Marines, where he rose to the rank of captain after seeing combat in Korea, Hughes worked for the Associated Press in Columbus. His exposure to the news business helped prepared him for his career in politics, when he often delighted reporters with glib quotes and concise political analysis.

After working for General Electric, Hughes in 1961 became vice chairman of the Cuyahoga County GOP. He became chairman in 1968. He also served on the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections until his death. The Cuyahoga County Republican Party will name Hughes' replacement on the elections board.

Although registered Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans in Cuyahoga County, Hughes played the minority role well when it came to generating headlines. But he was criticized by other county Republicans during the final years of his GOP chairmanship for failing to cultivate Republican candidates.

In the final year or so before he left the county GOP post, it was evident that Hughes yearned for the days when political parties had more impact than they do today. He detested the emphasis on television.

"When I came in 1961, you still had big meetings," Hughes said in an interview a month before he quit the GOP chairmanship. "Candidates came to meetings. Now, candidates running statewide don't want to go to meetings. They want to go to a cocktail party where they can raise money for TV. TV, TV, TV. That's all they talk about."

Hughes is survived by his wife; sons,

,

and Jonathan; a daughter, Robin; and eight grandchildren.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday in the United Methodist Church, 1534 S. Green Rd., South Euclid.

PD Columbus bureau reporters Jim Underwood and Thomas Suddes contributed to this report.

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)

December 4, 1991

Author: STEVE LUTTNER POLITICS WRITER

Just before his death,

was upset about a soured business deal in which he lost about $250,000, his son, David, told police.

But David Hughes and others said Robert Hughes was not overly distraught about any financial losses stemming from the business deal that fell apart in mid-August.

David Hughes found his father on the floor of the garage of Robert Hughes' Lyndhurst home Nov. 20. Hughes was pronounced dead at Hillcrest Hospital.

The Cuyahoga County coroner ruled that the death, caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, was accidental.

A Lyndhurst police report obtained yesterday by The Plain Dealer states that

and his girlfriend, Laura Raycher, told police that Hughes had mentioned that he had lost a large amount of money in a business deal.

The report states that David Hughes told police "his father was upset lately about a business deal that went bad and lost about $250,000 but that he showed no signs of deep depression or that he was suicidal."

The police report stated that Raycher said that Hughes "was always working hard and upbeat, always positive and didn't seem depressed even though he lost a large amount of money in a business deal that went bad but that he was not the type to commit suicide."

But Raycher said yesterday in an interview that she didn't tell police about Hughes' business dealings because she doesn't know anything about them.

David Hughes said yesterday that the business deal involved Elliot Geller, who had originally been a partner in the consulting firm that Hughes formed earlier this year, Robert E. Hughes & Associates.

, lawyer for the Hughes family, said yesterday that Hughes and Geller were planning to start a printing business this year. He said Hughes and Geller got into a dispute in mid-August over who was responsible for liabilities stemming from the proposed business.

"The liability is still there and we're trying to figure out how to handle it," Carbone said. He said it was difficult to place a dollar figure on the liability and declined to elaborate about the specific nature of the liability. He said that even though the business was never started, there were liabilities stemming from financing that had been arranged for the business.

"He (Hughes) was angry about it," Carbone said, but added that Hughes had previously confronted bigger problems than that. "I think Bob, throughout his career, had problems that were much more significant than this."

Geller, who is no longer a full-time member of Hughes' consulting firm, was vague yesterday when asked about the dispute he had with Hughes. Geller's lawyer, Deborah Nicastro, said, "There is a dispute but we're trying to work it out."

Geller is publisher of the Licking Countian weekly newspaper.

Joseph Rice, another original member of the Hughes firm, declined comment yesterday.

Dr. Robert Challener, chief deputy coroner and the one who performed the autopsy on Hughes, said yesterday that he supported the accidental ruling in Hughes' death. Asked if he thought it curious that Hughes' garage door was down while his car engine was running on a day when temperatures were in the 60s, Challener said, "The circumstances of this death are not crystal clear."

The hood of Hughes' car was up, and Lyndhurst police said it appeared as if Hughes had been working on the car. Challener said that even though there may be questions about the nature of an unexpected death, the coroner's office never rules a death to be a suicide unless the office is "110% sure."

"There isn't anything here to make it 110% sure," Challener said.