Longtime community leader is mourned

Al Hack Jr. died this week at the age of 85 after losing a battle with Parkinson’s disease, but he left his mark on Lawrence with more than a half-century of community service.

“Don’t sit around and wait for somebody else to do it,” Lawrence City Commissioner Sue Hack said, describing her father-in-law’s motto. “He taught us all how to give back to this community.”

It’s a lesson Al Hack III learned from his father at a young age.

“He was as good a role model as a guy could’ve ever asked for on community service,” the younger Hack said. “He was just a huge believer if you are going to live in the town, then you’ve got to pay your dues.”

Hack moved to Lawrence in 1950 to open The University Shop, a men’s clothing store. He went on to become a bank officer with Lawrence National Bank, left for Dallas in the ’80s to work for Brock Hotel Corp., then returned to Lawrence where he worked for Calvin, Eddy & Kappelman Real Estate.

But it was his countless hours of volunteer work for which he will be remembered.

Hack was a former United Way Drive chairman, founding director of the Achievement Place for Girls and president of Warm Hearts, a volunteer effort to raise money to help low-income residents with winter heating costs.

“He was a tremendously responsible citizen,” Hack’s longtime friend Bill Salome said. The two were among a group of more than a dozen men who gathered five days a week for the past 20-plus years to share stories over coffee.

“He knew probably as many people in Lawrence as anyone I ever knew,” Salome said. “He was loved by everybody.”

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Plymouth Congregational Church in Lawrence.