Michele Elizabeth Pugh

LIMA: Michele Elizabeth Pugh, Director of the Environmental Finance Center at Wichita State University, died on June 21 in Wichita following a brief illness. She was 50 years old.

Michele was director of the Environmental Finance Center (EFC) since 2016. Prior to joining the EFC, Michele worked as an environmental engineer and held several positions with Flint Hills Resources (2007-2016), Koch Industries (2003-2007), and Monsanto Company (1992-2003). Michele graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Ohio University in 1992 and a Master’s degree in environmental engineering from Tulane University in 1999. She was a 1988 graduate of Shawnee High School.

Michele was an excellent seamstress, loved to travel but one of her favorite hobbies was book-making and binding. Her eBay store, Leila Ebenezer Handmade Books, was named after two of her beloved cats.

Michele is survived by her two sisters, Lisa G. Pugh Zangmeister and Sharon Pugh Klug, and her brother, Scott Pugh plus several nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents, George “Bud” and Eileen (Altic) Pugh.

Memorial services for Michele will be held at 11:00 am on Sunday, July7, at Siferd-Orians Funeral Home in Lima. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made online or via mailed check to Kansas Humane Society, 3313 N. Hillside, Wichita, KS, 67219 https://www.kshumane.org/donate.html or The Arthritis Foundation, 1900 W 75 Street, Suite 200, Prairie Village, Kansas 66208 https://www.arthritis.org/kansas/ . Please include “Michele Pugh” on the memo line.

Condolences may be expressed online at www.siferd-oriansfuneralhome.com