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| | | Bruce Robey, 1943-2009 | | October 16, 2009 | | | | Capitol Hill has truly lost an outstanding citizen with the death of Bruce Robey.
Mr. Robey co-founded this publication and the H Street Playhouse. He was president of the Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals (CHAMPS). In 2003, he received the Capitol Hill Community Foundation’s prestigious Community Achievement Award, an honor he fully deserved.
His wife, Adele, noted at his recent memorial service, “He made community wherever he went.”
Under Mr. Robey's leadership, the Voice encouraged outstanding citizens to run for advisory neighborhood commission seats by letting local residents know when some of the old commissioners were not fulfilling their duties.
Today, thanks in large measure to Mr. Robey, H Street NE is undergoing a rapid revival. He and his wife started the H Street Playhouse in 2002, a time when few businesses were interested in the corridor.
At a packed service at the playhouse two weeks ago, hundreds of his friends and admirers laughed at recollections of Mr. Robey’s sense of humor and praised his willingness to call things as he saw them, even when it was not politically correct.
Perhaps overlooked was his ability to inspire his daughter, Julia Christian, to follow in his footsteps. Christian is now the executive director of CHAMPS, the business organization that Mr. Robey once led. Like her father, Ms. Christian is devoting herself to making the Hill an ever better community and doing a fabulous job of it.
Capitol Hill is fortunate that Mr. Robey moved here in 1975. Let his contributions inspire all of us to realize that it is more blessed to give than to receive. | | | | | Log in to comment on this article |
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