CEO aged just SEVENTEEN dies in unexplained circumstances six years after setting up successful lemonade business
A 17-year-old CEO who captured headlines with his successful lemonade business has died unexpectedly.
Aubrie Greene, the CEO of Virginia lemonade stand business Breezzy’s Lemonade, passed away from unexplained circumstances.
The teenager’s tragic death was announced July 14 by BBQ restaurant Pig & Brew, which partnered with Breezzy’s Lemonade, in a Facebook post.
The restaurant said Greene ‘shined brightly’ in his young life, and he used his entrepreneurial spirit to ‘build something that inspired so many.’
‘His vision, work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit made a lasting impact on our community, and his legacy will continue to live on through the lives he touched,’ the post read.
‘Our hearts and prayers are with his family, friends, loved ones and the entire Breezy’s Lemonade team during this unimaginable time.’
Greene’s mother Ceydria McCray told 8News that she could not share any details over how Greene passed away.
McCray said she was still processing the tragedy, and described her son as ‘the life of the party and the ray of sunshine in our family.’
‘The kid who dared to be different, dreamed bigger than his age and kept all lanes clear to it,’ she said.
A 17-year-old CEO who captured headlines with his successful lemonade business has died unexpectedly
Greene made headlines when he was aged just 11 after he set up his lemonade business from scratch.
His mother said he begged her for his own lemon squeezer to start by-hand, and he began selling his homemade lemonade around the Richmond-area.
McCray said she took samples to her work, and her co-workers ‘requested gallons.’
‘We ended up getting cups, from cups to pouches, pouches to jugs that I was getting at the dollar store and now we got sealed bottles.’
His products soon landed on the shelves of supermarkets, and the lemonade business boomed.
Derek Houston, the business analyst of The Market at 25th, the first supermarket to stock Greene’s drinks, said the lemonade flew off the shelves and had to be restocked every few days.
‘It’s a really fast-moving product and people want it,’ he told WRIC at the time.
‘It was really impressive when it first came in and people were coming in asking where it was, but it was already gone.’
