Mark Pugh

1952 - 2024

Mark Pugh

February 28, 1952 - September 27, 2024

Mark Chesley Pugh, of Glen Allen VA, died peacefully at home on September 27, 2024. He was born in Richmond VA on February 28, 1952, to Tom and Mary (nee Decker) Pugh and grew up in Williamsburg VA. He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Carol (nee Baranofsky), as well as his nephews Joshua Pugh (Kristina Williams) and Steven (Kaitlin) Pugh and their families, and his sister-in-law, Penny Duke Pugh Cory and her husband Birt and his son Alex. He was predeceased by his parents and brother, Nelson. He is also survived by five Decker cousins and their families and Carol's large and extended family, which includes four sisters-in-law and six brothers-in-law and their families. Mark lived the charmed life of a small-town preacher's kid until the summer of 1964, when he was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). Despite his ongoing medical issues, he was able to enjoy time at the family's summer cottage on the Piankatank River each August. There, he and his brother Nelson "messed around" with boats. Mark worked his way up from a rowboat to a motorboat to a sailboat. He and his dad enjoyed many adventures on the river and the Chesapeake Bay aboard their sailboat, the Sea Breeze. He spent his teenaged years battling the effects of the disease and was in and out of school. With sheer determination, the support of his family, and the help of many tutors, he graduated from James Blair High School on time in 1970. He had bilateral total hip replacement surgery in 1972 and began attending the College of William and Mary (W&M) in the fall of 1973. By going to school part-time year-round, he was able to complete a BS in Biology degree in 1977. His plans to attend Pharmacy School on the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) were delayed by a year because of a flare-up of the JRA. At the beginning of his second year of Pharmacy School, Mark met another member of the W&M Class of 1977 who was just starting Pharmacy School. They discovered their Williamsburg connection by noticing the other's "magic secret decoder ring" (W&M signet class ring). They started dating after eight months of being friends and became engaged 10 weeks after their first date. Mark had another JRA flare-up in the fall of his last year of Pharmacy School, which caused him to graduate 3 months late and for him and Carol to postpone their wedding by a year. They were married at Bruton Parish Church in Colonial Williamsburg on May 22, 1982, and entered the Doctor of Pharmacy program at MCV three months later. After graduation, they lived in Charleston SC for a year and in the suburbs of Philadelphia for five years. Mark and Carol moved back to the Richmond Area in 1990 and lived there for 25 years. They retired to Carol's native New England in the spring of 2015, but Mark got homesick, so they returned to the Richmond area six years later. Although he never had another JRA flare-up after 1981, the damage done over the years resulted in the need for multiple revisions of both total hip replacements between 1985 and 2005. The last revision of his left hip in 2005 failed soon after surgery. Mark's increased pain and worsening shoulder joints forced him to switch from crutches to a wheelchair after several months and to retire on medical disability soon thereafter. His shoulders eventually gave out and were replaced in 2011 and 2014. After he retired, he focused on his hobbies and volunteered his computer and photographic editing skills by helping compile several annual reports for GoochlandCares. He was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 1998; it likely occurred after a blood transfusion for one of his hip replacement revision surgeries in the mid-1980s. At the time, there was no treatment for the disease; however, he was able to enroll in a clinical trial in 2014 which resulted in a cure of the condition. In 2019, he had a series of infections in his left hip requiring multiple surgeries. In 2021 he was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease requiring 24/7 oxygen therapy and Parkinson's Disease with dementia. He continued to decline both physically and mentally and was enrolled in hospice care at home in August 2023. Mark made the Energizer Bunny look like a slacker. Despite his many medical issues and chronic pain, he earned 3 college degrees and enjoyed a satisfying career as a drug information pharmacist and adjunct professor in the VCU School of Pharmacy. He engaged in numerous activities, including photography, gardening, woodworking, and singing in the choir at church. He started taking pictures as a teenager and made the transition from film to digital cameras during a 1996 trip to England. True to his scientific training, he brought both types of cameras and took many of the same pictures with each camera and later compared the results. He decided to go digital which meant investing in lots of cool gear. He had many of his slides from the 1960s to 1990s converted to digital format. He started out using Photoshop but later became a Lightroom devotee. Mark learned gardening skills from his parents and spent many weekends tending to the home gardens he developed and maintained with Carol's reluctant help. Mark loved to plant flowering shrubs, perennial flowers, and bulbs and enjoyed photographing the results. He was a prodigious vegetable gardener and always had plenty of tomatoes and other produce to share with neighbors and colleagues at work. When he needed to use a wheelchair to get around, he discovered the joy of container gardening on the patio. Over the years, he made numerous custom furniture pieces for his home and many beautiful boxes and butler's trays for friends and family. When Mark started using a wheelchair, he retrofitted his garage woodworking shop to be wheelchair accessible and didn't miss a beat. He used to say that every new project required the purchase of a new tool. By the time he reached his peak in 2015, he owned nearly every woodworking power and hand tool known to man. Mark had a good ear and a nice baritone singing voice but had never sung in a choir. When St. Mary's Episcopal Church decided to start a choir in 1995, Carol convinced him to join her in signing up. He gradually learned how to read music, but always tried to sit next to the stronger section members. He managed to continue to sing for a few months after needing to use a wheelchair, thanks to his fellow basses bumping him and his wheelchair up and down the 17 steps to the choir loft. He eventually found it difficult to sing while sitting in the wheelchair, so he retired to the congregation. Despite his many medical problems and chronic pain issues, Mark rarely complained about his lot in life. His philosophy was that his energies were better spent doing things he could do rather than lamenting the things he could not do. Sometimes that meant he had to rest more or postpone long anticipated trips and events, but the results were nearly always worth the wait. He was a kind, thoughtful, intelligent, and funny man who will be sorely missed by all who knew him. The Liturgy of the Resurrection will be celebrated at 2 p.m., on Thursday, October 17th, at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 12291 River Road, Richmond VA 23238. The service will be livestreamed on St. Mary's Facebook channel (https://www.facebook.com/St.MarysGoochland/). A Celebration of Life is scheduled at St. John's Episcopal Church, 101 Chapel Street, Portsmouth NH 03801 at 11 a.m., on Friday, October 25th. The NH service will be live streamed on St. John's YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo7Nu-1X6zz4DiGZr5YMvOw?sub_confirmation=1). In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the music programs at either St. Mary's Episcopal Church in VA or St. John's Episcopal Church in NH. Donations may also be made to GoochlandCares in Goochland VA or to the charity of your choice.