James “Butch” McHugh
ZANESVILLE
James E. McHugh, 89, known to his family as Butch, passed away Sunday, November 10, 2024, at his residence surrounded by his family, following complications due to renal failure. He was born March 28, 1935, to the late James and Nelda Grubaugh McHugh in Alma, Michigan, where his father had a Ford dealership. He graduated from Alma High School in 1953 and later attended William and Mary College in Virginia, where he graduated with a degree in Economics. Butch met the love of his life, Marilyn Hoard, while growing up in Alma, Michigan, whom he married June 15, 1958.
The car business would play a huge role in Butch’s life. He worked for Ford Motor Company as a service representative.
Butch aspired to own and run his own car dealership. On December 16, 1963, Butch along with a friend, Bob Hill, that he worked with at Ford, moved to Zanesville and opened McHugh Hill Volkswagen dealership. He later added Porsche, Audi and Subaru. In 1987, Butch became a Jeep dealer and later added Dodge, Chrysler and Ram. This year, the dealership, will celebrate 61 years of being a family owned business.
Butch retired in 1999 and sons Tim and Mike took over the running of the dealership. His daughter Kelly works in the Finance Department and son Kevin in Sales Department. One of his greatest joys was having all his children involved in the family business. Grandson Dakota would come on board later in the Service Department. He was really proud of them all.
In the spring of 1968, Butch wanted to move to the country and bought a 200 acre farm on the south end of town. Another huge part of Butch’s life was horses. You can’t move to a farm and not have horses, so everyone got a horse. The McHugh family enjoyed spending weekends traveling around Ohio attending horse shows and Butch would spend a week at the county fair for vacation. Many friends were made from 4-H, Quarter horse shows and roping events. He enjoyed fly fishing for trout and every moment he could spend with his family.
When Kelly was working with Dale Wilkinson, a renowned Cutting Horse trainer, in Findlay, Ohio, he caught the Cutting Horse bug. Showing and training Cutting Horses would become his passion. He developed many lifelong friends in the horse world and had several good horses, who won many regional cuttings and awards.
Butch is survived by his wife of 66 years, Marilyn Hoard McHugh; sons: Mike (Jackie) McHugh, Kevin (Jennifer) McHugh and Tim (Ann) McHugh; daughter Kelly McHugh; three grandsons: Dakota (Megan) McHugh, Mitchell McHugh and Kenny (Kelly) Phillips; three great- grandchildren: Gavin McHugh, Emma Phillips and Jackson Phillips; two sisters: Lynn (Austin) Henderson and Karen (John) Mathis; a sister-in-law Linda Abbott; and many nieces and nephews.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his mother and father-in-law Ivan and Ione Hoard; a nephew Mark Deterline; and a brother-in-law Ritch Hoard.
The McHugh family would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Jeffrey Austen, M.D. and his staff, Steve Toki for driving him to all his appointments, and Donna Kirby for helping us all at the end of his journey.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date. THE SNOUFFER FUNERAL HOME, 1150 WEST MILITARY ROAD, ZANESVILLE, has entrusted cremation services to the Snouffer Crematory.
To send a note of condolence to the family visit www.snoufferfuneralhome.com, find us on facebook, or call our locally owned caring staff at 740-450-8000.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Muskingum County Canine Adoption Center, 1854 East Pike, Zanesville, OH 43701 or Muskingum County Animal Shelter Society, 1430 Newark Road, Zanesville, Ohio, 43701.
