John Patrick Hackett Jr.

John Hackett, a longtime San Antonio resident and retired educator, died unexpectedly on June 8, 2025 at 85 years of age. A devoted husband for six decades to Jeanne (Garlock) Hackett, who survives him, John was born and grew up in the Bronx, N.Y.

In addition to Jeanne, John is survived by his sister Gerry Hackett of Austin, Texas. His sister Ellen Doughty (1941-2014) and his brother Michael Hackett (1944-2022) predeceased him.

He leaves behind a large extended family of loved ones and a lifetime’s accumulation of dear friends, all of whom remember him with affection and respect. John radiated intelligence without conceit, passion without rebuke, and self-possession without pridefulness. And always through kind Irish eyes upon which 50 years in south Texas never managed to inscribe a squint.

A graduate of Regis High School in the Bronx, N.Y., John was a 1961 alumnus of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. He earned a Ph.D. in Medieval English from Saint Louis University and taught at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. He and Jeanne moved to San Antonio in 1975, and before his retirement in 2002 he held teaching positions at the University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio College, the University of the Incarnate Word, and The Circle School.

It was at the University of Missouri-St. Louis that John and Jeanne met—when she was a freshman student in his “Major British Writers” course—and they waited until the semester ended before dating. They married in 1966 in Jeanne’s home town of Gerald, Missouri.

Other students became lifelong friends. One, Edward Nathan, observed that as a student John absorbed the Jesuit ethic that learning was serious and worthy of work, but made it his own as a teacher with a generous informality. He called John “a wonderful model of what a university professor should be,” and said, “If you wanted to feel good about yourself, if you wanted to feel intelligent, you talked to John.”

John did not need an academic setting to share himself this way. His niece Ellen (Hackett) Gerace recalls that when she was a child, his bedtime stories were “so animated that I could envision the characters in the tales, such as when he vividly described the friendly monsters that would eat people’s fingers like French fries. He had a glowing smile and loved to tell stories.” His brother-in-law Bill Doughty, who shared John’s mid-century Bronx roots but not his outlook, remembers that their reliable disagreements never led to more than “a good-natured mutual teasing” that brought “a smile and a chuckle.”

John, who served for seven years as a reserve member of the U.S. Marine Corps, was a passionate voice for peace, disarmament and justice who led local protest and lobbying efforts. When an issue demanded attention or an event required coverage, it was John who would hand-deliver press materials to San Antonio’s radio and television stations. When ex-CIA Director Admiral Stansfield Turner came to the city to speak against military intervention, it was John who arranged the visit. He put his love of animals into practice as a board member and organizer of San Antonio-based Voice for Animals, and lived as a dedicated vegan who was the master of broiled tofu. He loved to play and watch basketball, but preferred to call it “roundball,” and always presented the term with vowels as round and ruddy as the item itself.

Throughout his life, John found expression in poetry. As an undergraduate he was editor of The Purple, the literary magazine of Holy Cross. But his real output never stopped and was never finished, much less published, amassed in green felt-tip pen on small notepads. It was for him. Anyone with whom he shared even a glimpse understood that it was an earned intimacy.

Ever since their days at Holy Cross, John and his roommate Ernie Califano remained close and mailed their poetry to one another. Upon John’s passing Ernie said, “I loved John as much as a brother. I’m no dummy, but John was the smartest person I ever met. He was the one person I always felt comfortable talking to. I’m not a believing person, but I hope there’s someplace where he and I can get together again and have a laugh.”

A private family interment took place on June 20, 2025 at Countryside Memorial Park in La Vernia, Texas. Those who wish to honor John’s memory may do so with a donation in his name to www.VoiceForAnimals.org.