Schuyler A. Haskell

1928 - 2014

Schuyler "Sky" Adams Haskell, 85, passed away on Sunday, March 9, 2014 in Newport Beach, CA. Schuyler was born September 24, 1928 in Cleveland, OH, and spent the first seven years of his life with his parents, Melville Hanna Haskell and Katherine Adams, on a family ranch outside of Tucson, AZ. It was the beginning of his lifelong love with the Sonora desert and the Southwest's wide-open spaces.
In 1935 Schuyler's parents divorced, and the boys - Sky, older brother Cobe, and younger brother Mel, Jr. - moved to Pasadena, CA with their mother. Schuyler attended Polytechnic School, then high school at The Cate School (Class of '46) in Santa Barbara. He was a member of the first class of Claremont-McKenna before transferring to and graduating from the University of Arizona. In 1950 he married Joan Katherine Taufenbach. Joanie and Sky had two children, son Coburn, "Cobe," and daughter Sarah. Sky is survived by his Arizonan half-siblings, Mary Walker and Mark Haskell, and step-brother Bill Woodin, his two children, and three loving grandsons, Evan, Schuyler, and Ryan.
Sky's primary occupation was an agricultural grower in the Palo Verde Valley of California. He was an accomplished pilot, a passion he had pursued since the age of 15, achieving instrument rating certification. While residing in Pasadena, Sky ("King!") weekly flew his Cessna (graduating over the years from a 172 Skyhawk to a twin engine 310) to Blythe, CA to meet his foreman and manage the farmland.
Besides flying, Sky's true passion was the game of golf, achieving an 8 handicap in his prime. Not a long-ball hitter, his game was based on touch and tempo. He was a longtime member of Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena and later The Valley Club of Montecito. His grandfather, Coburn Haskell, invented the rubber-wound golf ball in 1898, soon adopted by the game for more than a half century, well into the 1970's. Sky was also a fly fisherman, hunter, and jazz man, playing both piano and alto sax strictly by ear and feel (couldn't read a note!). He was a storyteller and always young at heart with a twinkle in his eye - a charming, engaging, and generous man who befriended lifelong pals from all generations. Sky's wit, boundless sense of humor and appreciation for life, family and friends grew ever stronger in his later years.
A memorial service will be held at St. Mark Church in Newport Beach at 3:30 pm on Saturday, 4/12. To honor Sky, in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute, 1 Hoag Dr, Newport Beach, CA 92663.