2018 SOUTH CAROLINA BUSINESS HALL OF FAME
Robert E. “Bob” Hughes Jr. Developing downtowns into destinations
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rom his earliest days, Bob Hughes was influenced by the values his father taught. One of those values drilled into him was that it was important that he leave the world a better place than he found it. “Dad said, ‘You’re here a finite amount of time. You’re a blip in history, but if you don’t leave it better, what was the point in your being here?’ ” Hughes said. Young Hughes did not have much spare time to ponder that question, as his parents also taught him the value of hard work. “We were a family that believed in work,” Hughes said. His father, a real estate developer in Greenville, brought colleagues from all over the world to meet his two sons. “We were taught to admire people who worked hard.” For Hughes, now chairman of Hughes Development Corp. of Greenville, one of
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his first jobs was mowing the putting green his father had in the front yard, receiving a dime each morning that he cut it. Later, this would lead to a job at a country club in Greenville at about age 14.
“They said they needed somebody with experience. I said I have about eight years’ experience,” Hughes said. He grew up in Greenville, the son of two Greenville natives, and he is living in a
“Be alert. The opportunity you are going to find in the future is not the opportunity you are going to be told about today.” –Robert E. “Bob” Hughes Jr.