Richard Verney, who was the CEO of Monadnock Paper Mills in Bennington, is remembered across the region for his generosity, commitment to his community, love of the outdoors and his visionary environmental business practices.
Virginia Lucarelli, one of Verney’s three daughters, remembers her father for his humble and quiet nature, and as a person who did not seek or need recognition for his extraordinary professional accomplishments or his deep support of the community.
“His guiding principal in life was doing right by the environment, and doing right by the community,” she said. “The world has lost a wonderful man. I am proud to have been his daughter, and I am profoundly sad.”
Lucarelli recalled happy times growing up in Bennington, where her father frequently took the four Verney children exploring the surrounding lakes and rivers.
“I’m grateful for all the wonderful times we had,” she said.
Lucarelli said supporting the community and the natural environment around Monadnock Paper Mills were as much her father’s priorities as running the business.
“He was forward-thinking in so many ways,” she said. “We were a family of six, but really, his family was a whole lot bigger, because his workers were also his family, and he deeply cared about all of them.”
Lucarelli said her father gave generously of his time in the Bennington area and near the family’s summer home in Nantucket, and also served on the boards of schools the Verney children attended.
“He just did so much for so many people– but he was never too busy to pick up the phone and call us. He was always there for us,” Lucarelli said.
Lucarelli said since her father’s death on Sept. 10, she has heard from people all over the country, and has learned things she never knew.
“It is just amazing how he helped so many people. We don’t know how he did it all,” Lucarelli said. “He was even more special than we knew.”
Verney was a generous benefactor of many organizations in the Antrim and Bennington area, including the Grapevine Family Resource Center, the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, Monadnock Community Hospital and the Crotched Mountain Foundation.
Susie Spikol, director of community education at the Harris Center, knew Verney for many years as a generous benefactor.
“I met with Mr. Verney every year, and he was always just so interested in what we were doing, and he was always so grateful for all our hard work, ” Spikol recalled. “He wanted to know all about our work: in education, in conservation, in our citizen science. He really cared. He was very much an old-fashioned gentleman, but he was also way out ahead of everyone on environmental issues, and he was a real visionary,” she said.
Spikol said Verney was particularly forward-thinking around his commitment to clean water.
“He was an avid fisherman, and because of his love of fishing, he had a great passion for clean water and for the environment,” Spikol said. “He just loved the outdoors; he would always tell us his crazy fishing stories.”
Spikol recalls one time when her own family was canoeing on a remote lake in Maine, and another family appeared, heading for the same campsite.
“We were pretty surprised anyone else was there, and then it turned out to be one of Richard Verney’s daughters–which was just so much fun, because when we made the connection, I told her how much I loved and admired her dad. The whole family has a huge love of the outdoors, ” Spikol said.
Spikol said Verney was equally passionate about supporting his community.
“He was especially interested in any programs that supported the children and youth of Antrim and Bennington,” Spikol said. “He has a really big heart for the community where he ran the business, and he was very aware of the capacity he had to help people, and he took that responsibility to heart.”
Spikol said Verney’s loss will be felt by many.
“He helped so many people and organizations. He was an amazing philanthropist,” she said. “It is a real loss for us at the Harris Center, and I know we are not the only ones who will be feeling that. He will be dearly missed.”
Melissa Gallagher, executive director of the Grapevine Family and Community Resource Center in Antrim, said Verney’s loss will be felt deeply throughout the region.
“He very much was a strong supporter of the Grapevine, since our inception,” Gallagher said. “His support has been instrumental to our programs and our mission.”
Gallagher recalls the first time she went to meet with Verney in one the mill’s “incredibly beautiful meeting rooms.”
“When I came to the Grapevine, I inherited the relationship with Mr. Verney and with the paper mill, and the first time I went to meet him, I thought it would maybe just be the one time, but I had the privilege of going back to meet him every year, ” Gallagher said. “Every year when I met with Mr. Verney, he had done his homework; he knew all about our work with the community. He always had a whole folder with sticky notes and things highlighted, and he asked really thoughtful and informed questions. He really cared about what we were doing; he really cared about people in the community.”
Gallagher said after a few years, she began bringing Jacqueline Roland, director of the Avenue A Teen Center, to take part in the discussion about the Grapevine and the needs of the local population.
“Mr. Verney knew exactly where he wanted to invest in as far as the community; he made a direct connection between our work and the health of the community. He was just a very thoughtful person. He obviously was involved in supporting so many different organizations locally, but when I met with him, he was just completely focused on the Grapevine. He was very intentional, and he was very grateful for what we do. This is truly the loss of a very special person who was very invested in the community,” Gallagher said.
Kenneth Fox, who was vice president for human resources at Monadnock Paper Mills for the past three and a half years, said he has rarely encountered a person as ethical and principled as Verney and considered him a good friend.
“It is a tremendous loss,” Fox said. “He was a very kind man. It was very refreshing to work for him as one of the owners of a business so grounded in his morals and ethics. I have never worked for anyone else in the business world with such high integrity.”
Fox said Verney was driven by three passions: the environment, including a great love for animals; his community, which encompassed his employees at the mill, and his family.
“He absolutely loved his wife and his family so much,” Fox said. “He especially loved children, and he passionately supported organizations that helped children.”
Fox said that every spring, Verney would delight over seeing bald eagles over Powdermill Pond and share his photos with his staff, and every year, he took rare time off for an annual fishing trip with friends.
“He cared so deeply about the environment, as a part of that, he loved animals so much. He especially loved dogs. A lot of people had their dog at the mill, and if anyone needed to take time off to take their dog to the vet, he was always so supportive,” Fox said. “People used to joke that if you were a dog, there would be no one better in the world to take care of you than Richard Verney.”
Fox said Verney felt a duty to take care of his employees and the community.
“If anybody had a sick family member or a new baby, or any kind of life event, he would always remember to check in on the person; he wanted to know about them; he was always asking what they needed. He would make sure they had a flexible schedule and could take the time they needed. If someone’s spouse was going through treatment, if someone lost their spouse– he really cared.”
Fox said when he first came to Monadnock Paper Mills, other staff jokingly warned him about “Mr. Verney’s sacred cows.”
“There was the lawn, there was the Christmas tree and there was the flagpole,” Fox recalled. “The property is meticulously kept up. The lawn is perfect, the Christmas tree was always lit, the flagpole was beautifully maintained. When I came here, I made a joke about putting in a putting green, and everyone said ‘Do not mess with the lawn!’ “
Fox said Verney never wanted any recognition for the things he did for others, or for the visionary environmental practices he put in place, which earned the paper mill countless awards for environmental stewardship.
“He was very humble. He did not want recognition,” Fox said. “He had no ego about his accomplishments; he did not need someone to tell him he was great. He just did what he believed was right.”
For a complete obituary, visit legacy.com/us/obituaries/ledgertranscript/name/richard-verney-obituary?id=59448722&fhid=3574.
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