John Hughes, age 91 of Meeting House South, Simsbury, CT, husband of the late Mary (Sapatas) Hughes, died November 19, 2018 at home. He was born August 14, 1927 in Astoria, Queens, NY City, NY. The son of the late John Leo and Mary (Cramer) Hughes and had lived in Simsbury for the past 51 years. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in New York City in 1944 and joined the U.S. Navy Reserve in 1945 as an enlisted man and served as part of the occupying military force in Japan aboard the U.S.S. Rehoboth until early 1946. He was also an active member of the Naval Reserve in the years 1950 to 1954. He was an honors graduate of Pace University in 1953 where attending evenings he received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in accounting. Mr. Hughes joined The Lummus Company, a subsidiary of Combustion Engineering, in 1948 in New York City and was elected Assistant Treasurer in 1963. In 1967, he was appointed Controller of the Power Systems Group of Combustion Engineering and transferred to their home offices in Windsor, CT. He was appointed Vice President and Controller in 1974, Executive Vice President Finance and Administration in 1982, Senior Vice President Finance Power and Industrial Operations in 1986 and retired from that position in 1989 after 41 years of service. In 2002 he was engaged by ASA-Brown-Boveri as Vice President and Sole Director of Combustion Engineering Inc. to oversee its bankruptcy filing in connection with the fair and equitable resolution of significant asbestosis claims. This process was successfully completed in 2007. Mr. Hughes was an active member of the Financial Executives Institute serving as President of the Hartford Chapter in 1974-1975; Regional Director of the Northeast in 1976-1977 and a National Director from 1978-1981. He had an active interest in academic affairs and was a member of the American Assembly of the Collegiate Schools of Business where he served on its initial Accounting Accreditation Committee from 1982-1984 and its Business School Continuing Accreditation Committee from 1985-1989. He taught a course in controllership at the University of Hartford Graduate School; was an industry advisor to the University of Connecticut School of Accounting for several years and was an alumni advisor to the Audit Committee of the Board of Trustees at Pace University from 1984-1989. Upon his retirement, he undertook a graduate course of study at Trinity College in Hartford and received his Master of Arts degree with a concentration in history in 1998. Mr. Hughes was a communicant of St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Simsbury and served as a charter member of its Finance Committee from 1992-1999. He was a member of the Golf Club of Avon from 1980-1996 and a member of the Farmington Woods Golf Club from 1997-2008. In his later years, he played golf at Simsbury Farms where he was a member of the Geritol Swingers.
He is survived by a son Michael J. Hughes and daughter in law Lynn (Sakala) Hughes of Boxborough, MA and a daughter Barbara A. Manning of Simsbury, CT; four grandchildren Heather (Manning) Eckler and her husband Matt Eckler, Brian Manning and Kevin and Rachel Hughes. Three sisters, Jean Giacalone, Florence Lawrence, and Elizabeth Burnett pre-deceased him.

The family will receive friends on Friday, November 23rd from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the Vincent Funeral Home, 880 Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury. Funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:00 AM on Saturday, November 24th at St. Mary’s Church in Simsbury. Burial with military honors will follow in Simsbury Cemetery. Please visit John’s “Book of Memories” at www.vincentfuneralhome.com for online condolences.