Eric Hal Hackendale "HAL"

HACKENDALE: Eric Hal Hackendale, 51 of Jacksonville, Florida, was gathered into the arms of his Heavenly Father on Wednesday, July 17, 2019. He received God’s personal blessing during surgery at Memorial Hospital, and passed after courageously battling cancer for over two years.

Hal was born on April 13, 1968 in Tallahassee, Florida, and spent most of his life in Jacksonville. He graduated from Bishop Kenny High School in 1986, where he excelled at varsity baseball for three years. Upon graduation, he went to Middle Georgia College, where he played for legendary baseball coach, Robert Sapp. Hal graduated with honors from Florida State University, where he majored in Fine Arts and Metal Sculpture. He was awarded a scholarship at University of Southern California, and moved to Los Angeles to complete his Master’s degree in Fine Arts.

Hal spent the following six years working in the Los Angeles area, creating commissioned art pieces in the metal and wood mediums. He designed and built unique pieces of art and furniture for many notable celebrities, including actor George Hamilton, Perry Farrell, singer/songwriter for the band Jane’s Addiction, and David Klass, director of the screen play Kiss the Girls Goodbye. He also received screen credit for an important facial prop he created and fabricated for use in the movie The House on the Haunted Hill. While in LA he refined his passion for computer graphics and design.

After several years in California, he packed his equipment and two dogs into his pickup, and returned to Jacksonville to live with, and provide daily care for his aging grandmother. At the same time he started a business in building web sites and 3D graphic design. He was a talented artist and designer, and completed many projects for companies like the McDonalds Foundation, Universal Studios and Walt Disney World, among others. He also found time to create many beautiful and striking pieces of art and furniture for friends and family.

Hal was a fine athlete in all sports, excelling in football and baseball as a young man, and becoming a low handicap golfer. He loved the beach, and enjoyed surfing and golfing with friends, including “adopted brothers” Paul Caron, Johnny Anderson, Anthony Saleeba and Tim Sutherland. He loved his BMWs and enjoyed working on them with his close friend, Sam Christ. He had a genuine love of animals, a caring heart, and the willingness to provide help to anyone who needed it. He loved his family and close friends, and especially his Grandmother Josephine’s Italian food and recipes. He was an intelligent, well-read man, with varied interests from sports, to computers to music, learning to play guitar in his forties.

Hal was true to himself, and always followed his own course in life. His outgoing personality will be missed by all who knew him. He will never truly be gone because he left such a loving presence in the hearts of his family and friends. As Emily Dickinson famously said, “Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality.”

Hal is preceded in death by his grandparents, Josephine and Angelo Caporali, and Virginia Bauman and Robert Hackendale. He is survived by his mother, Angela Caporali Briggs (Mike) of Dacula, Georgia, his father Jim “Hack” Hackendale (Maggie Dutton) of St. Simons Island, Georgia, half-sister Haley Hackendale of Denver, Colorado, stepsisters Susan Briggs and Lauren Briggs Lawler (David), both in the Atlanta area, his aunt Loretta Caporali Keen of Callahan, Florida, his uncle David Caporali (Mary Margaret) of Tampa, Florida, cousin Bryan Keen of Orlando, and cousins Christen, Andrew and Lauren Caporali, of Tampa, and several nieces and nephews.

A celebration of Hal’s life will be held Saturday, August 3, 2019 between 5:00 PM and 9:00 PM (drop in) at the Legacy Lodge of Hardage & Giddens Funeral Home, 4801 San Jose Blvd, Jacksonville, Florida. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to:

The American Cancer Society, 1430 Prudential Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32207

K9s for Warriors, 114 Camp K9 Rd, Ponte Vedra beach, FL 32801

The Jacksonville Humane Society, 8464 Beach Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32216

Arrangements are under the care and direction of HARDAGE-GIDDENS FUNERAL HOME OF MANDARIN, 11801 San Jose Blvd. Jacksonville, FL 32223. www.hgmandarin.com (904) 288-0025.