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 create and run a humane education program; tend horses at a stables;

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 bookstores 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 life.

   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 man of great curiosity. He was a

voracious reader and even more voracious book collector with a deep interest 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.