Prévost had big ideas for town he loved
Hudson Mayor Ed Prévost is remembered as a patient leader who had big plans for the small town he loved. The mayor died following a lengthy illness, Oct. 10. He was 76. “He took on the job at a tumultuous time in Hudson’s history,” Diane Piacente said. Piacente was a town councillor and served as interim mayor leading up to Prévost’s election to the post in 2013. He brought years of experience as a business executive to the table, but the ride was rocky from Day 1. The town was teetering on the brink of financial disaster and legal nightmares. Then former director general Louise Léger-Villandré was arrested by UPAC — Quebec’s anticorruption squad — in 2014. She eventually pleaded guilty to embezzling over $1 million and received a 30-month sentence last year. Prévost dealt with staff upheaval after staff upheaval, some with legal battles attached. In 2015, he was accused of multiple breaches of the code of ethics of elected officials by one of the town’s councillors. The Commission Municipale du Québec cleared Prévost of any wrongdoing. “It think (being falsely accused) was his greatest hurt,” pro-mayor and good friend Natalie Best said. “One of his grandchildren came to him worried he was going to jail. Can you imagine? And he had done nothing wrong. Zero.” Best met Prévost more than 10 years ago. They lived in the same neighbourhood and met for the first time at the Royal Oak Tennis Club during a mixed-doubles match. “That’s when I saw his competitive edge. We were alike that way,” Best said with a laugh. “It was about the success or failure of his strategic play, not about beating the other player.” Prévost was an avid golfer and tennis player until bad knees forced him to slow down. Quiet, but with a dry sense of humour, he was the consummate good listener. Best said when he took his Yorkshire terrier for a walk, he would stop to talk to people and be genuinely engaged in what they had to say. “When we first moved to the neighbourhood, he invited everybody to a Christmas cocktail at his house,” Best said. “It was about sharing a bit of holiday cheer, but it was also about everybody getting to know each other.” India Robbins met the mayor three years ago when she was 16 years old and had just launched her Heart of Hudson blog, which promotes life and commerce in the town. “He was so kind and supportive,” Robbins said. Robbins regularly attended council meetings and witnessed the mayor being criticized by residents and councillors alike. “I’m sure all the stress didn’t help with his health,” she said. “He accomplished so much, beginning with pushing through the town’s strategic plan. I’m proud to say he was my friend. He did his absolute best for this town.” “He dreamed big when he was elected,” Piacente said. “But the mood of the town at the time, after the embezzlement, made it hard for people to trust. It’s a tough slog to please citizens in a small town. You go to the drugstore or the grocery store and they jump on you.” Prévost was well on his way to leading the town in the direction of calm and financial stability when his health failed. District 2 councillor Ron Goldenberg got to know the mayor over the course of the last four years and remembered him as a fair and patient man. “He stepped into a real hornet’s nest,” Goldenberg said of Prévost’s introduction to the mayoralty. “Infrastructure had been neglected. Town records were in a shambles. He wanted to stabilize the ship.” Goldenberg said the mayor remained “extremely positive” at times when others might want to break down and cry. Prévost was predeceased by his first wife Anna-Marie. He is survived by wife Sandra Johnson, four children and 12 grandchildren.