As the economy struggled to move forward, foreclosures continued to ramp up and the unemployment rate remained stubbornly high, 2010 was a tough year for many.
The year was full of uncertainty not only at the national level but in everyday lives.
For some, it was a year of fresh starts.
As we looked back, we wondered what happened to many people whose lives took sharp turns this year. We caught up with a few here.
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JAMES E. "JIM" UKROP
WHY YOU KNOW HIM: Former chairman of the family-controlled First Market Bank, former executive at Ukrop's Super Markets Inc., and community activist.
WHAT'S NEW: He has a new role as director of Union First Market Bankshares Corp., which was created when First Market Bank merged with Union Bankshares Corp. in March.
Ukrop saw more than his title change this year.
As the family patriarch, Ukrop, along with younger brother Robert S. Ukrop, oversaw the sale of the family grocery and banking businesses.
Jim Ukrop was chairman of First Market Bank, which had been majority-owned by the Ukrop family and the grocery chain. The first branch opened in 1997 and the bank grew to 40 branches, mostly in the Richmond area, with $1.3 billion in assets.
He was CEO of Ukrop's Super Markets until 1998 and served as the chain's chairman until 2008. His younger brother ran the grocery business, and Jim Ukrop oversaw the banking operations.
With this year's merger with Union Bankshares, Ukrop became a director of the publicly traded bank.
"I am doing the same thing I've done for the last 10 years," Ukrop said. "I come to the office every morning as I have for the past 10 years."
He kept his office at Union First Market Bank's downtown headquarters. But he soon will move to a new space one floor above his current office.
"I could have moved to where Ukrop's Homestyle Foods operates (in Henrico County), but I like the excitement and energy that surrounds downtown," he said.
As the bank chairman, Ukrop said he wasn't responsible for the day-to-day operations. "I was not involved in the bank from a lending or operational point of view, but it was more from a corporate culture point of view."
He said he is adjusting to being a board director of a public company and not chairman of a private bank.
Ukrop also still is involved in community activities and works with businesses and nonprofits, including CenterStage and Richmond Public Schools.
"My calendar is full every day," he said. "I like to connect the dots for people and organizations."
Gregory J. Gilligan
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ROBERT S. "BOBBY" UKROP
WHY YOU KNOW HIM: Former chairman, president and CEO of family-owned Ukrop's Super Markets Inc.
WHAT'S NEW: Now president and CEO of Ukrop's Homestyle Foods.
Ukrop ran a chain of grocery stores that his family had operated for about 70 years. The business was sold in February.
Today, he leads Ukrop's Homestyle Foods, a food manufacturing business supplying dozens of grocery stores with baked goods and prepared foods.
"A lot of things haven't changed," he said. "I'm still making food, and I'm still teaching fifth-grade Sunday school."
The largest customer of Ukrop's Homestyle Foods is Martin's Food Stores, which bought the 24 Ukrop's stores in the Richmond area and the one in Williamsburg.
Ukrop's Homestyle Foods is expanding beyond the local market.
It created the Good Meadows brand, which sells a variety of baked items including the famous Ukrop's Rainbow Cookies and White House Rolls, at Kroger stores in Southwest Virginia and North Carolina.
The company created that brand name to reach new grocery store customers.
"A lot of people don't know Ukrop's, and we haven't proven ourselves outside of Richmond," Ukrop said.
Ukrop's Homestyle Foods also supplies limited food items to stores owned by Martin's parent company, the U.S. unit of Dutch supermarket conglomerate Royal Ahold NV. The items are sold under the store brand name.
His company sells some of its food products to a handful of other grocers, including Harris Teeter. He hopes to expand the reach.
Running a food manufacturing business rather than a large retail operation means Ukrop has greater flexibility with his schedule.
His community activities continue and he still advises Martin's, but the big difference is that he now lives without the responsibility of overseeing a chain of retail stores.
"I'm enjoying what I'm doing," Ukrop said.
Louis Llovio
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DONALD C. LACEY
WHY YOU KNOW HIM: A former Henrico County police officer who was convicted in federal court for running a real estate investment scam.
WHAT'S NEW: His days are spent at a satellite prison camp for minimum-security male offenders at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pa.
Lacey went to federal prison Sept. 20. His release date is July 2, 2019.
At least 136 people, mostly in the Richmond area, lost more than $15 million in an investment scam run by Lacey.
The victims include 56 people who lost $6.5 million through Capital Funding & Consulting, a Henrico-based company once owned and operated by Lacey, and 80 people who lost $8.6 million through Old Dominion Financial Services, a defunct Henrico company that funneled money to Lacey and his businesses.
Lacey was supposed to use the money to buy and renovate fixer-uppers and rent or flip them at a profit. In most cases, the work was never done and the money was used to support Lacey's lavish lifestyle.
He and his wife, Tamara, owned five properties in Virginia, ranging in value from $390,000 to $1.5 million. Some were sold and/or foreclosed.
The couple still owns their primary residence in Hanover County, which is assessed for $1.1 million. The yearly property taxes of about $8,800 are paid and up to date.
Carol Hazard
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JUSTIN G. FRENCH
WHY YOU KNOW HIM: A developer of dozens of residential and commercial properties in Richmond in legal trouble.
WHAT'S NEW: French awaits a Jan. 25 court date in Richmond General District Court on multiple felony charges involving forgery.
French was granted permission by the judge to leave the state for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays to visit family. He said this summer that his wife and two children were living at the time in Florida.
He did not respond to an inquiry about his current situation.
The couple's residence, a Georgian mansion at 330 Oak Lane in Richmond's West End assessed at $2.04 million, has been scheduled three times to be sold at a foreclosure auction. The auction was called off in light of a nationwide moratorium on foreclosures as U.S. lenders review possible flaws in their procedures.
It has been rescheduled for Jan. 6.
French was arrested by the Virginia State Police on Aug. 16 at Richmond International Airport on eight counts of forging public documents and one count of writing a bad check. He reportedly had $11,000 in cash and a one-way ticket, destination unknown.
The FBI has declined to say why French is being investigated. However, questions have arisen regarding his use of federal and state historic tax credits to offset the cost of renovations.
His Shockoe Slip office at 1314 E. Cary St. in on the market by the lender for $640,000, said Christian Kiniry with The Shockoe Co., which has the listing.
French at one point this year owned more than 100 properties in Richmond. Some were foreclosed.
Carol Hazard
* * * * *
JOHN M. LEWIS JR.
WHY YOU KNOW HIM: Former CEO of GRTC Transit System.
WHAT'S NEW: He left to lead the Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority in Orlando.
Lewis' first day running the Orlando transit agency was Dec. 1.
"It's growing on me," said Lewis, who had been GRTC's chief executive since 2005.
The people are friendly, the city's thriving, and there are plenty of cultural, educational and sporting attractions, he said. "But I'm trying to get used to the weather."
A cold wave reached down into central Florida, and Baltimore-native Lewis hadn't brought his northeast winter gear to the sunny South.
Recruited for the Orlando position, Lewis had a full plate from the get-go.
Orlando's system, called LYNX, is significantly larger than GRTC, and Florida has been awarded a $1.25 billion federal grant to develop high-speed rail between Orlando and Tampa.
The four localities that make up the LYNX system have agreed, at a high political level, on a regional strategic focus and a clear plan about where they want go — and they're willing to invest in it to make it happen, Lewis said.
"I don't have routes here that stop at jurisdictional line," he said. "They go throughout the region."
There's a lesson here for mass transit in metropolitan Richmond, Lewis said.
"The only thing that is holding GRTC back is a lack of clear regional perspective, purpose and investment," he said.
Guided by smart, caring people, the Richmond region is in many respects ideally situated for progress, Lewis said.
"There's nothing about Richmond that is systemically preventing them for moving forward," he said. "It's getting over regional lines."
Meanwhile, the invariably well-dressed Lewis — a suit-and-tie kind of guy — is warily eyeing Orlando's inevitable return to warm Florida weather and swampy humidity readings.
"I can't see myself coming out of my long-sleeve shirts and cuff links," Lewis said. "It's going to be quite a challenge."
Peter Bacqué
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STEVE MAGAT
WHY YOU KNOW HIM: Among thousands of local people who lost their jobs in 2009.
WHAT'S NEW: He started his own business by buying a Tutor Doctor franchise in Henrico County.
Magat's job was eliminated during downsizing at Capital One Financial Corp.
So he took a step that some other laid-off professionals have done. He started his own business, a Tutor Doctor franchise. The business provides in-home academic tutoring.
Magat said his business is slowly growing. He has 35 tutors and 86 clients.
"The money still isn't completely where I want it to be yet, but I look at my bank account and I am more happy with what I see now than what I saw in August, and I see my client list growing," Magat said.
Last year was a "rock-bottom" year, Magat said. Though he is still uncertain about the overall economy, Magat said 2011 is looking to be a strong year for him.
"Now that I have been at it for a year, I feel really good about next year," he said.
John Reid Blackwell
* * * * *
ANN MARIE CHEVALIER
WHY YOU KNOW HER: One of six Henrico County students with autism hired by Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital after completing a job-training internship at the hospital.
WHAT'S NEW: She's working 20 hours a week at the hospital's Family Center child-care center.
"I do a whole bunch of stuff," the 20-year-old Chevalier said. "I work with the children."
She started working at the child-care center in June. Her duties vary, from wiping running noses and helping the children get ready for nap time to cleaning tables after lunch.
"She's pretty much like a teacher's assistant," said Donna H. Shifflett, director of the Family Center.
The internship has expanded to more departments in the hospital, and eight students are enrolled in the second class.
Chevalier, whose class of six students was the first in the program, has blossomed from a slightly shy and serious student worker to a confident and bubbly employee.
She has met the new class of students and shared this advice: "Just be yourself," she said. "Work hard, and no one can stop you. Don't be afraid of what you get yourself into. Take it head-on."
Tammie Smith
MICHELLE BENNETT
WHY YOU KNOW HER: Laid off in July from Goodwill Industries.
WHAT'S NEW: She's still looking for work.
As 2010 comes to an end, Bennett is among the millions of Americans still looking for work, more than a year after the Great Recession officially ended.
"Things are OK, although I did not want to enter 2011 without having a job," Bennett said. "It's hard to do it on your own, and I have begun to reach out to people. I am even willing to leave the area for work, as a couple of my interviews have been out of the state."
Bennett is an Air Force veteran who has spent six years working in career services.
She said she has interviewed as far away as Florida and South Carolina for jobs in that field.
"Of course these are places where friends reside, but I am open to East Coast opportunities," she said.
"There are jobs out there. I don't know if I would say the economy is getting better," she said. "I will say that I have become more optimistic since I began searching out of the area. I have honed my job search down to opportunities at higher-education institutions."
John Reid Blackwell
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