Little known, reclusive author of detective novel in Athens passes away at 75

During the last week of January, Hal Schick became ill while he was home alone. He died in bed. But it would be more than a week before his body was found.

Schick, who had two novels to his credit, had lived in Athens for at least 40 years, according to one man who lived in the same apartment building off College Avenue. His backyard was only yards from the North Oconee River.

After Athens-Clarke police were asked to check on him by a home care business shortly before noon Feb. 8, the officer received no reply from his knocks. A property maintenance employee arrived to unlock the door.

Athens-Clarke Coroner Sonny Wilson was summoned. He soon had the task of finding next of kin for the 75-year-old man, sometimes a difficult job for those like Schick who have no family in the area.

Schick was originally from Buffalo, N.Y., and Wilson was able to locate a sister in that state. Then he found a granddaughter that had not seen him in at least 20 years.

“We don’t know much about him,” Wilson said.

A few people at the apartment complex knew him, but not closely.

Schick had published two novels and in the author notes, he wrote that he earned a journalism degree from California State University, then worked as a writer in Los Angeles before moving to Athens.

“I knew him casually for 35 years,” said Randolph Smith, who resides in a second floor room above Schick. “I drank beer with him at The Globe. He was a nice, calm guy. Laid back.”

Smith said he owns Schick’s novel “Dime Detective,” which is set in 1940s Los Angeles. Smith said he understood Schick was working on a third novel.

A woman next door, who asked not to be identified, said she had lived next to him since 2009, but she never once saw him have visitors during that time.

“He was quiet. He stayed to himself,” she said.

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In the weeks prior to his death, she said Schick was involved in a car wreck that broke some ribs and a finger. “He said it was his fault,” she said. She had helped him with errands in recent weeks due to his injuries and wrecked car.

She owns Schick’s second novel, “Only on Rainy Days,” a story that touches on racial prejudice in the1950s when “two white children find out about racial prejudice when a black family with two kids moves into their previously all-white neighborhood in Buffalo.”

Those children in turn experience a type of prejudice when they visit a grandmother in the South and they are treated differently because they are northerners.

Schick was a longtime volunteer for Athens Habitat for Humanity, where he worked on a construction crew building homes, the organization confirmed.

Schick's sister, Jo Piret, who lives north of Buffalo, said her brother served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam in the years 1967-69. He served as a correspondent for a military publication and worked out of Cam Ranh Bay for most of that time, she said.

When he moved to Athens 33 years, he took on jobs as a substitute teacher in Athens schools, but did roofing work for many years. And during his time here he did freelance work for the Red & Black and the Athens Banner-Herald, she said. She described him as a private and very frugal person, who loved baseball, swimming for exercise, and music, one of his favorites being soul singer Sam Cooke.

Piret said they grew up in Buffalo, but their mother, who died in 2011, grew up in Americus, Ga., and knew some members of the President Jimmy Carter family. That connection to Georgia may be the reason he moved to Athens.

Schick was cremated and his remains placed in the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton,

Boom magazine in Athens printed an article in 2019 featuring several local authors and among them was Schick, who talked about his mystery crime novel.

“If I wake up and find it’s not a good day writing, I read other detective stories to get back into the rhythm of a detective story,” he said.

Schick told the story’s writer that Howard Berk, a writer in residence at the University of Georgia, was his mentor.

“I couldn’t have done it without him. The novel is dedicated to his memory,” Schick said.

There are no public services planned, according to his death notice.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Little known author in Athens, Hal Schick, dies at 75