Though Hagan Thompson had careers in broadcast television and print journalism, dabbled in politics and worked in public relations, his true loves were theater and music.
Always his side jobs, music and theater were a constant in Thompson’s life from childhood until death, said his daughter Marilyn Altman, of Atlanta.
“He’d sing and act as often as he could,” she said. “And he got that from his father, who was a founder of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra.”
Dehart Hagan Thompson, of Atlanta, called Hagan by most, died Oct. 22 from complications of dementia and congestive heart failure. He was 85.
His body was donated to science, and a memorial service is planned for 7 p.m. Dec. 2 at Grace United Methodist Church, Atlanta.
A native of Iowa, Thompson earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Millsaps College in 1949. While in college he earned the nickname Huggin’ Hagan, due to his jovial nature, which stayed with him for the rest of his life.
“It sounds cliché, but I’d say he never met a stranger,” said Alan Thornton, a friend who lives in Atlanta. “It just seemed like he knew somebody everywhere we went, and if he didn’t he would soon.”
Before becoming a journalist, Thompson taught school for a short time in Mississippi. In the early ’50s he joined the Jackson, Miss., NBC affiliate as the news director, a position he held until the late ’60s. In 1968 he ran for Congress and though he lost, he was offered a job in the public relations department of the newly forming U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which was established in 1970.
In 1972, Thompson and his family moved to Atlanta, where he headed up public affairs for the agency’s Southeast region. He retired in 1988, but not before he’d found his way into the music and theater scene in Atlanta.
Twice married and divorced, Thompson was a member of the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, and he joined a musical political satire troupe called Southern Discomfort. He participated in performances by the Dunwoody Stage Door Players and proudly sang in the choir at First Presbyterian Church.
Thornton, who also sang in Southern Discomfort, said Thompson was a joy to sing with, even if he didn’t like what the group was singing.
“We’re all from different fields of thought, so to speak,” he said, of the political material the group would take on. “And there were times when people didn’t like what we were singing, and there were times I didn’t like what we were singing, but I have no idea what Hagan thought, and that is to his great credit. He never showed it, he just performed the material.”
Leslie Truman, another Southern Discomfort member, said Thompson’s comedic timing was excellent.
“He was a showman,” the Atlanta resident said. “You not only had to be able to sing, and articulate in song, you also had to be able to assume a character to pull off the joke, and he was always able to do that.”
In addition to his daughter, survivors include sons, Dan Thompson of Atlanta and Reese Thompson of Detroit; daughters, Edie Thompson of Atlanta and Helen Whitley of Atlanta; and two granddaughters.
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