Lifetime Achievement Awards: Joe Greco & Clif Richardson

    The 2014 Central Lifetime Achievement Awards are being presented to Joe Greco (pictured, top) and Clif Richardson (pictured, bottom).  These two men were nominated by Central community members, and they were selected for the award by a group of representatives from seven of Central’s non-proft organizations.
    Mr. Joe Greco and his wife Joan started their Greco Pet Supplies Store in 1957, and closed it this year after over 50 years in business.  They were pioneers in the pet pharmaceuticals business, and made it a huge success.  Mr. Greco took that success and used it to benefit his community in many ways.  He is a longtime member of the Central Chamber of Commerce, serving as a board member for many years,  and is now a Board Member Emeritus.  In addition, Mr. Greco served 4 terms as Metro Councilman for the Central area. He served under 3 different mayors over the span of 16 years. He was involved in many of the events that shaped our city, including, most importantly, fighting for the Central Thruway development project.  The project had been tabled off and on for years, and only came to fruition after Mr. Greco was termed out of office, but it exists today due to his determined, unrelenting efforts, and is his crowning achievement.  Through all of this, Mr. Greco has always been a modest, unassuming man, crediting God and his wife for his successes.  He raised 4 boys here in Central, and was, until this past month, a longtime resident in Comite Hills.
    A Navy veteran, Clif Richardson began Central business Rebel Electric Company, which he owned for many years.  He and his wife Sylvia have resided in Central for 50 years. 

    He served the Central community as Justice of the Peace from 1991 to 2007, marrying many Central couples.  When State Representative Donald Ray Kennard was term–limited out of office in 2007, Clif won the seat and served almost 6 years, running for a second term unopposed.  He continued to serve Central until treatments for myeloma, a very serious form of cancer, forced him to retire.  During that time, he served on 3 House of Representative Committees:  Civil Law and Procedure, Education, and Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs.   He received recognition for his efforts to pass a stricter confidentiality law that protects victims of crimes, and worked with law enforcement organizations to strengthen rules of evidence. Education was his top concern, and he fought to maintain funding and standards for the TOPS scholarship program.  He also worked with BREC to get Central the resources it deserved.  When the Baton Rouge Loop Project was being considered, Clif worked with Governor Jindal to veto a construction that would have bisected our city.  
    When Clif announced his retirement in 2012, his colleague Toni Ligi, then Chairman of the House, wrote “Clif has shown the utmost dedication to public service, worthy of emulation by all of us who serve in state and local government.”