Henry Anthony Haddad

Henry was born in Troy, NY in 1931 to Angele and Anthony Haddad, right at the start of the Depression. When he was a year old, he and his parents traveled to Cairo to rejoin family during the tough financial times. They moved back to the states when Henry was 3, and settled in Brooklyn, where he grew up with his sister Dorothy. Despite the Depression, he described growing up there, near Prospect Park, as “every child’s dream” with a seemingly endless supply of kids to play with. He often described his days spent playing marbles and stickball. His father must have envisioned his son growing up as a tough-guy on those rough Brooklyn streets. In fact, he encouraged it. He signed Henry up for boxing lessons at Stillman’s Gym at age 11 with hopes his son would be the next Jack Dempsey. But along with being a tough-guy, little Henry was also a scholar with a brilliant mind for business. Henry went on to graduate from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1949. He then enrolled at Syracuse University with hopes of earning a boxing scholarship. Eventually his savings ran out and Henry took a full time job at Colgate Palmolive while attending night school at Brooklyn College. He joined the Navy in 1950 during the Korean War and worked as a Navy Hospital Corpsman at St. Albans in Long Island. It was during this time that Henry met Helen Minze at a church dance in June 1952. They married in September 1955 and left that same day on their honeymoon: a one-month road trip to California. They settled in Los Angeles, where Henry had family, and eventually bought their first home in La Mirada, where they lived for next 16 years. Henry worked as a Cost Analyst for Autonetics (which became Rockwell International) for the next 30 years, while together they raised 6 children: Henry Jr, Christopher, Matt, Lenore, Michelle and Patricia. Eventually, the family moved to La Habra Heights and as the kids grew older, Henry pursued his passion for finance and built a business as a Certified Financial Planner. He represented Financial Network well into his 80s. After retiring from Rockwell, his Investment Office grew to staff of 4 devoted employees who went on to carry on business he loved so much. Alice, Rosalie, Jan Marie and Caroline became not only colleagues, but also dear friends to Henry and Helen. In 2007, Henry lost the love of his life, his wife of 52 years when Helen passed away from breast cancer. The loss was devasting to entire family, but especially to Henry. He eventually moved to Murrieta, which allowed our family to stay closely connected. He lived a busy & healthy life in Murrieta surrounded by his 6 children, their spouses, 15 grandchildren and eventually 5 great grandchildren. Henry was respected, admired and, most of all loved, by those who knew him. He was both serious and silly. Loving and strong. An incredibly hard working, generous and honest family man. He quietly helped so many people with his generosity. He worked relentlessly and then happily gave it away to others. He was a good man. A good father and husband. A good Catholic. He will be so deeply missed, but we are comforted by the knowledge that he is reunited with Helen, which is what he has longed for, for the past 12 years.