Eugene Frank Hodal Jr.

Eugene Frank Hodal, Jr., 79, resident of Adelphi, Maryland, died on March 12, 2026 at Casey

House (Montgomery Hospice, Inc.) in Rockville, Maryland. Frank, as he was known to all,

defeated two strokes, COVID, and hip and thoracic fractures, but was brought down by

myelodysplastic syndrome.

   Frank was born in East Chicago, Indiana, graduated from Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond,

Indiana, and spent less than a year at Holy Cross seminary in Wisconsin—until, he said, he

discovered Suzanne Pleshette. Having given a black eye to a bully who was harassing a fellow

seminarian also may have been a factor in his leaving the seminary.

   After working at Inland Steel in East Chicago, Indiana, he briefly attended DePaul University

in Chicago, where fellow student William Eckhardt became his lifelong friend and staunchest

supporter. While in Indiana, Frank went on to run a humane education program, tend horses at a

stable, and install plantings and haul mulch for a landscaping business, and select and serve

wines in a French restaurant. After moving to Maryland in 1979 with his wife to be, he worked

at book stores in Washington, D.C. (Common Concerns) and Maryland (Crown Books), and, for

a time back in Chicago, traded commodities. Frank also created a business that produced

knitwear and then another that created probiotics. Two strokes brought the latter career to a halt.

   Frank was most proud of being a rugby player and member of the Gary Rugby Football Club.

A frequent conversation starter for him was to ask if any person he met, who looked hearty and

fearless, was a rugby player. He almost always was correct in his assessment and found that to be

an excellent measure of character. Fellow Gary RFC ruggers remained his friends for decades.

   Frank is survived by his wife of 40 years, Priscilla Nemeth, his sisters Rebecca Short (Crown

Point, Indiana) and Jennifer Stewart (Goodland, Indiana), his nieces Theresa Julian (Dyer,

Indiana) and Sarah Goldberg (Frankfort, Illinois), and grandnephews Gregory Stewart and Grant

Goldberg, and greatniece Grace Goldberg.

   Frank was a Democrat, an old school progressive, a gadfly and a curious human being. He was a

voracious reader and even more voracious book collector with deep interst in wars that were

fought for freedom and against fascism and oppression.

Frank was a big man with a big heart. His passing leaves a sizable gap in the lives of those who

loved him.