Rough Bros exec Al Reilly dies

Longtime Rough Brothers executive and greenhouse industry leader Albert (“Al”) Reilly died Thursday, Oct. 17.

Al Reilly was a key figure in the greenhouse and garden center industry for more than three decades, leading Rough Brothers from a small greenhouse structure repair company to the largest greenhouse manufacturer in North America. In addition to commercial greenhouses, under Reilly's leadership, Rough Brothers also expanded into projects for schools and universities; retail garden centers; and large-scale public and private conservatories, completing such notable projects as the restoration of the United States Botanic Garden on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Other projects of note include the New York Botanical Garden, Longwood Gardens, the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. and the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. He also helped pioneer the development of movable greenhouse benches, under-bench heating systems and double-poly greenhouses.

Prior to buying Rough Brothers in the late 1970s, Al was head football coach at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he is a Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall Of Fame 2013 inductee. He was the youngest NCAA head coach in the country at the time, and in his last year of coaching, Knox College went undefeated, winning the Midwest Conference championship and earning a top ten Division III national ranking.

Al’s son Richard was named president of Rough Brothers in 2004 and continues in the business today.

Al Reilly is survived by his wife, Pam, daughter Sarah and son Richard.