Service
Saturday, March 4, 2023 | 12:00 p.m.
Howell Funeral Home | 10220 Guilford Road | Jessup, MD 20794
Celebration of the Life of Haskell N. Arnold
Repast
Immediately following Service
Carroll Baldwin Hall | 9035 Baltimore Street | Savage, MD 20763
Obituary
Haskell Napoleon Arnold, Jr. died peacefully on February 20, 2023 at Brighton Gardens in Columbia, Maryland with his wife, Barbara, at his side. He was 77.
Haskell was born on July 20, 1945 in Savannah, Georgia to Haskell Napoleon Arnold Sr. and Rosalyn Jackson Arnold, who was a teacher. He had two sisters, Ella Marie Arnold and Novella Yancy, and one brother, Samuel Clayton Arnold. He attended and played basketball at Alfred Ely Beach High School, which was established nearly 150 years ago as one of the first schools in Georgia to educate recently-freed slaves.
After high school, he studied business at Hampton University and graduated in 1966. He met his first wife, Linda Grayson, in college, and moved to Washington D.C where they had two children, Haskell Shaun Arnold, and Tia Hebron Arnold. The family later settled in Columbia Maryland, where Haskell lived until his death.
After completing the ROTC program at Hampton, he joined the Army as a budget officer and served from 1967 to 1969. A veteran of the Vietnam war, he attended Harvard Business school in Boston, where he graduated with an MBA in 1971.
Haskell’s career was focused on public service; he worked for PBS and BG&E, which later became Constellation Energy. In 1980, he was appointed the First African American Commissioner of the Maryland Public Service Commission. He later worked at the WSSC, for Montgomery County Government, and as Auditor for Howard County Government, until his retirement.
Haskell was active in his community, including work for affordable housing in Howard County. He met his wife, Barbara Peart, through his nonprofit work at the Columbia Housing Corporation. They married in 2003; through that union Haskell gained Barbara’s daughter Camille Didier, and Ian Newman, who was like a son to him.
Haskell was a devoted grandfather to his four grandchildren; Haskell Davis Arnold, Miranda Shaun Arnold, Camryn Elizabth Arnold, and Azalea-Grayson Hebron Arnold. With them, he shared his love for the arts and sports, and his belief in the importance of an education.
Haskell pledged the Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity, Incorporated, Columbia Alumni Chapter and became a member of the Beta Mu chapter of the Sigma Pi Phi Professional Fraternity, the Boulé, where he was an officer.
Haskell was an auditor at heart and had a budget and plan for everything. He was generous with his advice and time, and loved sports, news, politics and being anywhere and doing anything with his wife Barbara; he had great love for his children, grandchildren and extended family. He built an impressive community of extended family and friends through his many family, community and professional activities.
Haskell was diagnosed with Parkinsons more than 14 years ago, and fought hard to maintain his quality of life with the help of his devoted wife Barbara and an amazing team of health professionals. After a Covid-19 related illness and hospitalization in October 2022, he never fully recovered.
He is predeceased by his mother Rosalyn, father Haskell, brother Sam, sister Novella.
He is survived by his wife Barbara; children Shaun (Denise), Tia, Camille, and Ian; sister Ella Marie, niece Naria; and grandchildren Davis, Miranda, Camryn, and Azalea-Grayson, daughter-in-law Ariana, and a number of others to whom he was a surrogate father.
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