Obituary of Hugh Creighton MacConnell III

Hugh Creighton MacConnell III died unexpectedly on January 26, 2024.  He was born in Trenton, New Jersey, raised in Verona, NJ and spent many summers and much of his life in Beach Haven on the Jersey shore.  

He is predeceased by his parents, Hugh MacConnell II and Theresa Van Haverbeke MacConnell, survived by his wife, Robin, children, Creighton (Hope), Christian (Rachel), Collin, Caitlyn, Clay and Colton, his brother, Jeff (Fern) and sister, Heather along with brother-in-law, Ron (Misty) and his nieces and nephews, Stephen, Josh, Whitney, Ilsa, Ava, Dylan and Payton, extended family and many, many friends who are also family.

Creighton graduated from Seton Hall Prep in ‘84 and went into the College of Aeronautics at Florida Institute of Technology, graduating in ‘88 to begin a career of flying.  He started as an instructor at FIT then began his commercial career with U.S. Airways, CommuteAir in ‘91.  CommuteAir took him to Utica, NY where he met his wife in 1995.  He started with Continental Airlines in ‘98 which eventually merged with United in 2010.  

Creighton learned to surf at the age of six and enjoyed many sports, especially baseball, volleyball and golf with his kids.  He helped coach many of the teams his kids were on across all sports, starting with soccer, moving on to little league baseball, and joining Brevard HEAT high school teams.  He also loved watching his kids in any of their activities, though some were out of his coaching expertise.  He surfed his entire life and loved introducing his kids to the sport.  He loved to be near the ocean, whether in Beach Haven or home in Indialantic, FL.  

He was first based in Guam with Continental, on the 757, then Newark where he moved to the 737 and became a captain. He was thrilled to recently be based in Orlando, FL, only an hour from home. 

His life and his love for his family cannot be encompassed in a few paragraphs, but this is a small snapshot of who he was.  

Services will be at First Baptist Church Merritt Island, Saturday, February 10th at 10 a.m.  At 2:30, we will gather in Indialantic for a paddle out at 3:00.  This will be at the Ocean Terrace Beach access in Indialantic. We will be meeting at a small park/grassy area called William Dewey Park.  It should be easy to find with GPS.  It is 7/10 mile from the light at 192 and A1A and 2 blocks South of our street, Melbourne Ave.  There is a crosswalk where we can all walk across A1A to the beach together.  

The family will be arranging another gathering in his honor in Beach Haven, NJ and will update when details are worked out.  Thank you all for the outpouring of love.

In lieu of flowers,  please consider donating to fund his children’s education at:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/creighton-macconnell-childrens-education-fund