John Albert "Jack" Heagy, age 83, passed away on November 22nd, 2025, in Columbia, Maryland with family by his side.
Jack was born on March 18th, 1942 at Sibley Hospital in Washington, DC, the son of Albert and Elizabeth Heagy. He spent his early years in University Park, Maryland on Clagett Road. He and his wife Elizabeth later built their family home in Lanham, Maryland, raising their three children before moving to Westminster and, most recently, to Brightview Senior Living in Columbia.
Jack was preceded in death by his wife of 57 years, Elizabeth (Kincaid) Heagy, in 2023 and his oldest daughter Vivian Ganey (John) in 2020. He is survived by his daughter Melinda Peters (Philip) and son John Heagy (Cassandra); his five grandsons Joshua Ganey, PJ Peters, Jake Peters, Jack Heagy, and James Heagy; sister Ann McCauley of Kansas and sister-in-law Taylor Cheek of California, as well as nieces and nephew Chris, Chuck, Sydney, and Hanna.
Jack graduated from Northwestern High School (Class of 1960) and the University of Maryland College Park (Class of 1965). While at Maryland, Jack served as the University of Maryland Lacrosse team manager and back-up goalie under his father, and coach, Al Heagy who retired upon Jack's graduation. Jack is a proud member of the M Club for Maryland varsity letter winners.
Jack devoted nearly three decades, from 1965 to his retirement in 1994, to the Defense Intelligence Agency, serving as an Analyst and later as Section Chief. Prior to and after retirement from federal service, Jack continued working various positions keeping him close to people and to sports: Evening Manager of the Sporting Life store in Beltway Plaza, managing the school bookstore at DeMatha Catholic High School in the mid-1990's, in the University of Maryland Athletic Ticket office in the late-1990's and early-2000's and similar positions at the Bowie Baysox and Frederick Keys stadiums, and finally, after moving to Westminster, managing the front desk of the gym in the early mornings at McDaniel College.
Outside of work and family, his passion was teaching, coaching, and organizing to grow the game of lacrosse in the greater Washington DC area. Jack owed his love of the game to his father who played and coached at the University of Maryland. Jack was a coach, organizer, and commissioner of the Prince George's County Lacrosse Club from 1975 through the early 1980's. He helped to establish youth and high school teams with kids from Hyattsville, Lanham and the surrounding areas. He most enjoyed teaching kids about the game when they first picked up a stick and to help develop the basic skills and concepts. Despite the binders of philosophy, plays and strategy he wrote over the years, his focus was on just getting kids to play, teaching them to scoop, cradle, pass and shoot to develop their own love of the game. He was proud his early teams included coaching his oldest daughter Vivian.
In 1980, he helped establish the lacrosse program at DeMatha Catholic High School, prompted by his PGCLC players as they moved into high school. He served as the school's first club program coach, later moving to coach the JV team and then ultimately the freshman team when it was established until 1995. After guiding DeMatha from a club program to varsity status, he continued to help organize and support the team. In 1981, he helped found and served as commissioner of the Washington Area Lacrosse League, which included teams from Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia, including DeMatha. He continued his involvement throughout the 1980's, until private school leagues and public school districts started to sponsor lacrosse.
Jack was the recipient of the Mark Krieger Award by the Lacrosse Foundation in 1988 for contributions to the game of lacrosse.
Many will remember Jack as a fixture with his wife and kids at Green Acres Swim Club in Lanham every summer throughout the 1980's - helping to manage the snack bar named "Jack's Shack" (working the grill in the evenings) and assisting with the kid's swim team. He could be found every Saturday supporting their swim meets, timing or officiating. He was also a pool operator for several summers.
As "Pop Pop", Jack enjoyed spending time with and watching anything and everything any of his five grandsons did, continuing to provide coaching advice from the stands or after watching them on TV. He also enjoyed playing with all his grand-dogs (and great-grand-dogs). Pop Pop's love of lacrosse; snacks like Pop-Tarts, popcorn and pinwheel cookies; dogs, and TV mysteries like Murder She Wrote (but only in Cabot Cove) and other shows from the 1970's and 80's like Mash were some of the things his grandsons loved most about him. He was always known to have at least one mystery book he was reading (keeping a detailed binder with every book he read) and during football season he had to watch Redzone on Sundays. He always sent his Grandsons out the door with his famous Pop Pop fist bump!
Organizations that were important to him included Maryland SPCA (https://mdspca.org/donate), Athletes Serving Athletes (https://asa.run/donate), and St. Jude (https://stjude.org/donate), all which he supported later in life. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to any of these organizations.
A celebration of life will be held at his favorite local chain - Greene Turtle - in Columbia, Maryland on January 3rd, 2026 from 1pm to 4pm. All are welcome to come by and share stories and celebrate him. Please reach out to John or Melinda with any questions.
This obituary was lovingly written and submitted by his family.
Jack was born on March 18th, 1942 at Sibley Hospital in Washington, DC, the son of Albert and Elizabeth Heagy. He spent his early years in University Park, Maryland on Clagett Road. He and his wife Elizabeth later built their family home in Lanham, Maryland, raising their three children before moving to Westminster and, most recently, to Brightview Senior Living in Columbia.
Jack was preceded in death by his wife of 57 years, Elizabeth (Kincaid) Heagy, in 2023 and his oldest daughter Vivian Ganey (John) in 2020. He is survived by his daughter Melinda Peters (Philip) and son John Heagy (Cassandra); his five grandsons Joshua Ganey, PJ Peters, Jake Peters, Jack Heagy, and James Heagy; sister Ann McCauley of Kansas and sister-in-law Taylor Cheek of California, as well as nieces and nephew Chris, Chuck, Sydney, and Hanna.
Jack graduated from Northwestern High School (Class of 1960) and the University of Maryland College Park (Class of 1965). While at Maryland, Jack served as the University of Maryland Lacrosse team manager and back-up goalie under his father, and coach, Al Heagy who retired upon Jack's graduation. Jack is a proud member of the M Club for Maryland varsity letter winners.
Jack devoted nearly three decades, from 1965 to his retirement in 1994, to the Defense Intelligence Agency, serving as an Analyst and later as Section Chief. Prior to and after retirement from federal service, Jack continued working various positions keeping him close to people and to sports: Evening Manager of the Sporting Life store in Beltway Plaza, managing the school bookstore at DeMatha Catholic High School in the mid-1990's, in the University of Maryland Athletic Ticket office in the late-1990's and early-2000's and similar positions at the Bowie Baysox and Frederick Keys stadiums, and finally, after moving to Westminster, managing the front desk of the gym in the early mornings at McDaniel College.
Outside of work and family, his passion was teaching, coaching, and organizing to grow the game of lacrosse in the greater Washington DC area. Jack owed his love of the game to his father who played and coached at the University of Maryland. Jack was a coach, organizer, and commissioner of the Prince George's County Lacrosse Club from 1975 through the early 1980's. He helped to establish youth and high school teams with kids from Hyattsville, Lanham and the surrounding areas. He most enjoyed teaching kids about the game when they first picked up a stick and to help develop the basic skills and concepts. Despite the binders of philosophy, plays and strategy he wrote over the years, his focus was on just getting kids to play, teaching them to scoop, cradle, pass and shoot to develop their own love of the game. He was proud his early teams included coaching his oldest daughter Vivian.
In 1980, he helped establish the lacrosse program at DeMatha Catholic High School, prompted by his PGCLC players as they moved into high school. He served as the school's first club program coach, later moving to coach the JV team and then ultimately the freshman team when it was established until 1995. After guiding DeMatha from a club program to varsity status, he continued to help organize and support the team. In 1981, he helped found and served as commissioner of the Washington Area Lacrosse League, which included teams from Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia, including DeMatha. He continued his involvement throughout the 1980's, until private school leagues and public school districts started to sponsor lacrosse.
Jack was the recipient of the Mark Krieger Award by the Lacrosse Foundation in 1988 for contributions to the game of lacrosse.
Many will remember Jack as a fixture with his wife and kids at Green Acres Swim Club in Lanham every summer throughout the 1980's - helping to manage the snack bar named "Jack's Shack" (working the grill in the evenings) and assisting with the kid's swim team. He could be found every Saturday supporting their swim meets, timing or officiating. He was also a pool operator for several summers.
As "Pop Pop", Jack enjoyed spending time with and watching anything and everything any of his five grandsons did, continuing to provide coaching advice from the stands or after watching them on TV. He also enjoyed playing with all his grand-dogs (and great-grand-dogs). Pop Pop's love of lacrosse; snacks like Pop-Tarts, popcorn and pinwheel cookies; dogs, and TV mysteries like Murder She Wrote (but only in Cabot Cove) and other shows from the 1970's and 80's like Mash were some of the things his grandsons loved most about him. He was always known to have at least one mystery book he was reading (keeping a detailed binder with every book he read) and during football season he had to watch Redzone on Sundays. He always sent his Grandsons out the door with his famous Pop Pop fist bump!
Organizations that were important to him included Maryland SPCA (https://mdspca.org/donate), Athletes Serving Athletes (https://asa.run/donate), and St. Jude (https://stjude.org/donate), all which he supported later in life. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to any of these organizations.
A celebration of life will be held at his favorite local chain - Greene Turtle - in Columbia, Maryland on January 3rd, 2026 from 1pm to 4pm. All are welcome to come by and share stories and celebrate him. Please reach out to John or Melinda with any questions.
This obituary was lovingly written and submitted by his family.
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