R. Dale Hughes headed several Northeast printing companies, one of which was Hughes Printing Co. of East Stroudsburg, and he co-founded Pocono Community Bank (now First Keystone Bank) in East Stroudsburg.

He developed prostate cancer and he and his wife, Frances, an art teacher, made a philanthropic gift of $1.2 million to Pocono Medical Center in 2000 for the Dale and Frances Hughes Cancer Center, in gratitude for the care he received there.Known for their philanthropic gifts to their community, they had made a $500,000 gift to Women's Resources of Monroe County to help build the R. Dale and Frances Hughes Community Counseling Center in Delaware Water Gap. The Hughes' gift helped to pay for the building and counseling services.In 1994, the R. Dale and Frances Hughes Foundation donated $750,000 in seed money toward construction of the Eastern Monroe County Public Library's main branch on Route 611 in Stroudsburg.R. Dale died in 2002 and Frances passed away in 2009.