Mark Hailey spent his life proving that a person doesn’t need to pick a lane — that one man could be a saxophonist, an electrician, a math teacher, and a quietly fierce advocate for whoever was getting the short end of things, and have it all add up to something whole and special.
He died in the early hours of September 5, 2026, in Walnut Creek, California, at 76, with Laurie Garfield Hailey — his wife, best friend, and partner of 44 years — beside him.
Mark was born October 9, 1949, in Toronto, Canada, the son of novelist Arthur Hailey and his mother, Joan Fishwick Hailey. After the divorce of his parents, Joan brought Mark and his two older brothers, Roger and John, to Los Angeles. Mark became a stellar student with a sharp mind and a natural gift for chess and numbers. He gravitated to music early, becoming a standout saxophonist in his high school marching band. Mark’s father remarried Sheila Hailey, and three more Hailey children followed: Jane, Steven, and Diane. What might have stayed two separate households eventually folded into one large, improbably functional family — and Mark navigated the resulting complexity the way he navigated most things: lovingly, wisely, and without judgment.
As a student at Berkeley from 1967 to 1971 — a time and a place that asked something of the people who lived through it — Mark embraced the protests against the Vietnam War and came out the other side as a math major and an accomplished musician, with no real interest in a conventional career. He played saxophone in numerous rock bands and took electrical work to pay for it, and found, to his own mild surprise, that he was genuinely good at it — good enough to run his own contracting business. In the early 90s, he decided the calling he really wanted to pursue was the one his wife had already found: teaching. He became a high school math teacher, first at Pittsburg High School and later at Foothill High School, both in the East Bay. He was the rare teacher students still talk about decades later, not for one unforgettable lesson but for a daily habit — a clever, scrupulously G-rated joke, delivered every single morning, like a man who understood that showing up is a discipline, not a mood.
That discipline endured even through the most challenging chapter of his life. Diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, Mark met it the way he met everything else — without self-pity, without complaint, and without ever losing his deep consideration for the people around him. He worked hard to show up all the way to the end.
In retirement there was travel, good food, endless small home-repair projects, plenty of jazz, and time given generously to both his and Laurie’s large extended families. He and Laurie did not have children of their own — a fact that seemed to matter to absolutely no one less than their nieces and nephews, who claimed him as theirs and were claimed right back. Asked once, out of the blue, who he admired most — people expected some historical figure — Mark didn’t hesitate: Laurie, he said, for her unwavering kindness and generosity toward people less fortunate than she was. It was, if you knew him, exactly the quality he’d spent his own life practicing.
He was predeceased by his brother, Roger Hailey. He is survived by Laurie; his siblings John, Jane, Steven, and Diane Hailey, along with their spouses and children; and the entire Garfield family, who loved him as their own.
Mark held his politics the way he held most things — resolutely. If you want to honor him in a way he’d appreciate, send a donation to PBS.
Mark’s Memorial will be held on November 1, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. at St Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 66 Saint Stephen’s Drive, Orinda, CA 94563.
A Celebration of Life will follow at 5 Tacos and Beers, 1352 Locust St, Walnut Creek, CA 94596.