In Memoriam: Halmer "Hal" Haag, 1947-2009

[thatcrazycajun]

Science fiction fandom has lost another of its best people...and I only just found out about it. Hal Haag, longtime Baltimorean and member/staffer of conventions up and down the East Coast, including a Worldcon or two, died a week ago this past Wednesday (12 August) at 62 of cardiac arrest. I only found out because another old fannish friend, wouldyoueva, posted news of his memorial gathering on Facebook yesterday. Her page contains an account of the gathering, and another friend posts his remembrance here.

For myself, I remember a man who always made a point of saying "hi" to me when we encountered each other socially; worked like a dog to make massive events like Balticon and Philcon run more smoothly; and was a genial presence at meetings of both Washington, DC's and Charm City's respective SF/fantasy clubs. I am shocked and saddened at the news of his sudden removal from this life, and will miss him greatly. He was among the earliest friends I made when I moved to the DC area in early 1989, and the loss to fandom is incalculable.

So long, Hal, and thank you for everything. Say hi to Joe, Forry, Irv and Jack for us when you get up there. And any of the rest of you East Coast fans who can fill in the gaps in my memory about Hal's fanac—or just want to share your own memories of him—please post here.

 

Comments

Memorial LJ

[hms42]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/halhaagmemorial/

I had met Hal at 3am Albacon 1997, when he introduced me to Fluxx. After that time playing Fluxx, he did introduce me to a few games over the years, some card, some board and Fluxx was the main one I really stuck with thanks to him. At worldcon, a few weeks ago, I was wondering how he was doing and was planning on seeing if I could catch him at the next convention.

[ericavdg.livejournal.com]

The memorial gathering was very well attended and a tribute to how well loved Hal was. There were two memory books to sign--one for Hal's family and one for the clubhouse--and someone had found a wonderful photo of Hal in pirate garb with a real bird on his shoulders and made enough copies so everyone attending could have one.

I'll miss Hal's cheerful presence at cons and hearing his hearty laugh. He was indeed one of the good ones. I'm sure he's happily smoffing away with old friends in that great consuite in the sky.

By the way, his full name was Halmer, not Harold.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the correction. Do you happen to know his middle name by any chance? I like to get these things right.

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

Oops, sorry you didn't know about this before. I thought I was always the last to hear of these things...

His son Evan is maintaining an LJ community over at http://community.livejournal.com/halhaagmemorial/ where you can repost any memories you'd like to share.

(And IIRC, his middle name was Dwight.)

[zsero.livejournal.com]

Hal introduced me to Fluxx when it was just starting out. I was getting very tired of Magic:The Addiction, and Fluxx was the anti-Magic.

I'll miss him.