Frank Hackinson

Frank J. Hackinson passed away peacefully on February 6, 2021 at the age of 93. Frank was a devoted husband, loving father, grandfather, and brother. Born and raised in Flushing, New York, Frank had an innate entrepreneurial aptitude and business sense. As a youngster, Frank was a clerk at the local pharmacy, where he learned to fill prescriptions and went on to expand the business to prepared meals, exponentially increasing sales. The drug store alone could have led to a lucrative lifelong career, but Frank’s true passion in life was music. Frank’s career in the music business began in the 50’s when he signed on with Charles Hansen. In the years that followed, he distinguished himself in the fields of sales, marketing and licensing; propelling Hansen Publications to lead the print music market at the time. Throughout his tenure at Hansen, Frank worked with hundreds of the profession’s top artists, producers and publishers, and was ultimately responsible for signing The Beatles to their first print music contract in the United States. So dominant was Hansen’s market position that they once controlled the print rights for 99 of the 100 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles chart. With a staff of just six, Frank went on to establish Columbia Pictures Publications (CPP) in 1971. Over the years, CPP held the print music rights to the popular music industry's most notable artists, including: The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Henry Mancini, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, and Chicago, to name a few. Frank’s goal was to establish an outstanding catalog of popular music publications, signing exclusive representation agreements with many of the music industry’s most important publishers of the time. In 1983, he guided CPP’s acquisition of the publisher’s share of the print rights vested in the copyrights contained within the Big 3 catalog (Robbins, Feist and Miller), an industry first! As a result, and with his further acquisition of Studio P/R, Columbia Pictures Publications soon established itself in the educational print music market, and later came to be defined as the premier publisher of educational music in its time with the acquisition of Belwin-Mills Publishing Corporation. The company eventually became known as CPP/Belwin and employed more than 250 people. Throughout his career, Frank recognized the need to provide sound supplemental keyboard and instrumental music for up-and-coming musicians and, in doing so, was instrumental in nurturing and establishing the likes of John Brimhall, Richard Bradley, Dan Coates, Robert & Pamela Schultz, Nancy & Randall Faber, Helen Marlais, Kevin Olson, Brian Balmages, Soon Hee Newbold, Philip Groeber, and others as industry icons in this field. In 1988, Frank and his wife Gail began a new adventure and founded The FJH Music Company Inc. Together, they built one of the nation’s most exciting, best-selling educational print music catalogs. This remarkable catalog has raised the level of music education to new heights, with a variety of innovative instructional materials and original music by many outstanding writers and composers. Their children, Kevin, Kyle, and Kerry, have been with the company since its inception. Music was Frank’s passion in life and working in the music business was his life’s dream. There was nothing Frank loved more than creating publications and having his family around him. His unwavering commitment and determination inspired all who knew him and will continue to inspire musicians, music educators, family, friends and business colleagues for many years to come. Frank is survived by his wife Gail, children Kevin, Kyle and Kerry, daughter in law Kelly, son in law Gino, grandchildren Kelsey, Luca, Emily, Nicolas, and Brooke. He is survived by sister Mary Kobel and predeceased by his sister Catherine Hartel. Frank is survived by children from his prior marriage, Wendy, Brian, Tara, and Barbara Anne, and predeceased by son, Leonard. Frank will be remembered fondly by many cousins, nieces, nephews, friends and colleagues. In his loving memory, an endowment fund is established in Frank J. Hackinson's name for: MTNA - Music Teachers National Association https://www.mtnafoundation.org/contribute/frank-hackinson/ The funeral service will be lived streamed Tuesday at 10:55 AM Please Click Here Starting at 10:55 AM https://www.facebook.com/T-M-Ralph-Plantation-Funeral-Home-129257157147955/live_videos/?ref=page_internal Alternate Streaming Link Arrangements by T.M. Ralph Plantation Funeral Home