Hal Nash died peacefully with family by his side on January 7, 2026, after a long illness and a battle well and honorably fought.

Hal was born on September 1, 1945, in Amsterdam, New York, to Norma (Schafer) Nash and his namesake, Harold E. Nash, Sr.  Hal's dad was off fighting World War II in the Pacific theater at the time.  It would be more than a year before they would meet, but they made up for lost time over the years laughing, golfing and fishing.  From this, Hal learned the art of being a great father.

Hal grew up in the Village of Liverpool on Iroquois Lane.  From the stories told over the years, it would seem that he, his friends, and his Dalmatian named Duke had the run of the place.  He attended Liverpool High School, which at the time was located in the Village in the A.V. Zogg building.

It was at Liverpool that he met the love of his life, Sheryl Gridley.

After graduating from Liverpool, Hal attended Thiel College in Greenville, Pennsylvania.  The stories told about his days at Thiel and hitchhiking to get there are things of legend and need no repeating here for those who lived the stories with him or heard them told by Hal over the years at family gatherings and parties.

After graduating from Thiel, Hal joined the U.S. Army Reserves and between PT sessions wrote an unimaginable number of love letters to Sheryl while he was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.  The two would marry on June 15, 1968, and spend the next 58 years loving each other.  To that point, the last words Hal spoke to Sheryl a few days before he died were "I love you forever."

Hal and Sheryl had two sons, Doug and Dave, a dog named Beans, and a cat named Spooky. They built a life together in Bayberry on Mallard Path, and Hal built a business at Merrill Lynch in Syracuse.  Hal was a superhero to his sons.  The time he spent with them playing catch in the street, coaching their teams, playing table hockey and chess, fishing and golfing, teaching them to parallel park, and giving the best advice will live on in their memories forever.  They will be forever grateful to have had him as their dad.

In later years, Hal and Sheryl moved to a house on the Seneca River where Hal fished most nights after work and during retirement, claiming to have caught and released every bass under every dock for miles multiple times.  It got to the point where he started naming the fish to keep track.  Hal was a long-time member at Beaver Meadows in Phoenix, New York, and spent countless hours golfing with his friends.  During these later years, Hal and Sheryl also received what ended up being the best gift they ever got, a loveable Labradoodle named Murphy.  Murphy lives on and will miss Hal terribly.  Murphy is right now sitting by the door waiting for Hal to come get him.

Hal is survived by his wife, Sheryl, his sons, Doug and Dave, daughters-in-law, Lindy (Doug) and Jill (Dave), his sister, Deb Martin, his brothers-in-law, Dan Martin and Michael Gridley, his sister-in-law, Brenda Gridley, and his nieces and nephew.  Hal also is survived by his seven grandchildren of whom he was immensely proud – Virginia, Riley, Teck and Abby (Doug), and Katie Jane, Kellan and Braden (Dave).  He will be missed beyond words.

The family plans private services to honor Hal's life, and asks that anyone wishing to honor their memory of Hal consider doing so by making a memorial donation to the National Kidney Foundation or merkelcell.org.

Please sign the Maurer Funeral Home on-line guestbook for Harold to express your condolences to his family.