Warren Stuart Jackel

Warren Stuart Jackel, born June 2, 1937, in New York, NY, passed away after a long illness on Saturday, March 28, 2015. He was 77 years old. Known for his passion for and wide knowledge of sports, Warren had a wardrobe of t-shirts, jerseys and matching caps of his favorite professional and college teams, which he wore most of the time. Warren loved football, major league baseball, the NBA, NASCAR, and even golf, and could most often be found watching a game, tournament or race on TV. He used to say he preferred watching from the comfort of his easy chair, or listening on the radio as he “napped”, rather than attend games in person. Even though he was a loyal local sports fan, Warren’s most favorite teams were the Washington Redskins and the New York Yankees. Film, television and actor trivia was also a pastime of Warren’s, and he kept his show business “bible”, a heavy, thick reference book, always handy to check facts, or share a little-known tidbit. Even with the advent of the Internet Movie Database, Warren still preferred to look things up in that book! Warren was retired from a career in clothing retail, most significantly as the distribution center manager for Lyons Apparel, a Tacoma-based women’s retailer, until the company closed its doors in 1984. Previously, he worked for national retail chain Foreman and Clark, Leed’s Shoes, and had managed stores for women’s ready-to-wear retailers Taylor’s, Zukor’s and Lerner Shops in California and Washington. In the 1970s, Warren upgraded his resume’ by getting a certificate in computer programming from Tacoma’s L.H. Bates Vocational - Technical Institute, a skill he used in his work with Lyons Apparel in managing warehouse inventory. In the early 1960s, Warren worked for the William Morris Agency, a talent management company in southern California, until the death of his father, Sidney in 1962. Hired as a junior agent, he performed various tasks and ran errands for show business personalities, meeting and working for such film and stage stars as Jerry Lewis, Glenn Ford and Sammy Davis, Jr. He also had shared an apartment with Marshall Berle, the nephew of comedian Milton Berle. Warren served in the U.S. Air Force from 1956 to 1960, as a photo intelligence interpreter, achieving the rank of Airman Third Class. One of Warren’s duty stations, while attached to the Strategic Air Command (SAC), was Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, AK, before Alaska was a state, for which he received credit for one year and 25 days of “foreign service” in his service record. Warren also pitched for an Air Force baseball team while in Alaska, and was known by the local newspaper as the “left handed hurling artist.” He once played and pitched against the Seattle Rainiers, a Pacific Coast League team. He was very proud of his service to his country, and of the opportunity and privilege that it was, which fostered a patriotic regard of the United States. Moving from the East Coast as a child with his family, Warren spent most of his formative years in Portland, OR, attending elementary through high school. He graduated from Washington High School in 1954, and then went on to briefly attend the University of Oregon on a baseball scholarship, and Portland State College (now Portland State University) where he studied pre-law. Warren had remained in contact with his oldest friend, Bob Benson, who he grew up with in Portland, until Bob passed away in 2013. A devoted family man, Warren was a proud and loving father to daughter Sydney Hennessy (Shawn) of Tacoma, and son Chuck Jackel (Karen) of Chicago. He adored his grandchildren Lauren, Bryant, Sarah, Noelle, Hannah and Sophie. The love of his life and best friend was his wife, Barbara (aka “Bobbie”). They met while working together for Zukor’s in Long Beach, CA, in 1962, where Warren was an assistant store manager, and Barbara was a bookkeeper. They dated for almost two years, marrying in September 1964. Last fall, Warren and Barbara celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Along with Barbara, his children and grandchildren, Warren is survived by his mother, Dorothy Levine; brother, Linden Jackel (Linda); uncles, Arnold and Larry Klein; and several cousins. Warren was preceded in death by his father, Sidney Jackel, and brother, Richard Jackel.