POPULAR local businessman, Emile  Enrico Greaves, better known as ‘Chemical Boss’ and ‘Boy Blue’, was killed in a vehicular accident in Brooklyn, New York, early yesterday morning. The accident which claimed the life of the 45-year-old proprietor of the Chemical Bar located next to the Berbice Car Park here in downtown Georgetown, occurred  in the vicinity of Linden Boulevard, Church Avenue,  Brooklyn, around 04:00h as he and his sister, Carol were  crossing the street on their way home from a party.
Greaves’ relatives recalled that he and Carol had the pedestrians’ green light in their favour, and were in the processes of crossing the road when a truck, presumably driven by a drunken driver, drove through the motorists’ red light.
On realizing that Carol was in danger of being hit, Greaves impulsively pushed her out of the way, but failed to save himself.  He was reportedly hit while on the pedestrian crossing by the speeding truck, and died shortly after at the Brookdale University Hospital, according to the New York Daily News.
The paper quoted New York police as saying:  “Enrico Greaves was struck so hard that he was knocked from his sneakers, and flew a dozen feet in the air before he landed violently on the hard asphalt of Linden Blvd.”
Greaves’ brother, Linden, who lives here,  told the Chronicle yesterday that he has been given to understand that the driver of the truck has been taken into custody. Reports coming out of Brooklyn quote the NYPD as saying: “Hall [the driver], who lived less than a mile from the accident scene, was arrested immediately. He flunked a breathalyzer test and was charged with driving while impaired.”
Badly shaken but trying to keep strong as she and other bereaved relatives and friends turned up at his Berbicar Car Park office yesterday, sister, Cheryl said that Emile and his wife, Murlene  left Guyana for the  United States on Thursday with the intention of spending a week there, and had gone to a party on Friday night.
Meanwhile, his children and other relatives here in Guyana reportedly took the news of his death badly. Cheryl said they received the phone call around 05:30h yesterday.
At the main beverage distribution centre — one of three businesses Emile owns at that part of Georgetown and  bearing the names Chemical Corner I, II and III — it was not business as usual.  A huge black flag was mounted on the closed entrance to the wholesale depot. The grief was evident as friends, employees and business associates turned up to express sympathy on learning of the tragedy.
Veteran television personality and host of the popular ‘Wake Up Guyana’ morning show, Basil Bradshaw, who has been Greaves’ friend for several years, and on whose show he  regularly  advertised, was moved beyond words.
On regaining his composure, Bradshaw  recalled their connection through the years. “He had been more than an advertiser to me.  We became very, very good friends, and to date has been my longest serving client that I’ve had and we have worked on a number of activities together.”
Commenting on his affable personality and humanitarian nature, Bradshaw  recalled that every morning on the ‘Wake Up Guyana’ show, ‘Boy Blue’ would  call him up and ask him to say good morning to “somebody out there.”   He also commented on the simple man Greaves was, never becoming too excited about earthly things.
Noting that he had “a mind of his own,”  Bradshaw credited the businessman with being one who was not afraid to advertise with anybody, and that he enjoyed good business relations with all the major beverage manufacturers, wholesaling their products without  prejudice.
Bradshaw recalled that on Thursday morning before leaving for New York, ‘Boy Blue’ called and left a message on his cellular phone saying that he’d see him on his return to Guyana in a week’s time.  Sadly,  all hopes and plans have been thwarted.
And Guyana Chronicle Sports Editor, Leon Horatio, expressing sadness on Greaves’ death, recalled that he was a sports enthusiast who had sponsored many a sport activity.   Greaves, who has been involved in the beverage distribution business for several years, took over from his father, the late Lennox Greaves, a baritone singer who featured in the local film ‘If wishes were Horses’.
The first wholesale centre  was operated from next to the Mahaica bus park.  Emile later opened  two other branches, where he operates barbershops and an Internet service.
He is survived by his wife, Murlene, children, four sisters and three brothers and other relatives.  His body is to be brought home for burial.  Funeral arrangements are to be announced later.