Nick Hrnyak, former Fairfield high School athletic director and also an administrator in the Hamilton, Talawanda and Ross school districts, died at the age of 64 Friday at Fort Hamilton Hospital.

Hrnyak, a resident of Hamilton, retired two years ago as assistant principal at Talawanda High School but still remained active in his own successful line painting business.

Hrnyak’s death was a shock to friends like Tom Holmes, former boys basketball coach at Talawanda and Madison high schools, and John Meece, Talawanda mathematics teacher and former THS boys basketball coach, both of whom remembered Hrnyak not only as a man who radiated strength, but as a good man with a knack of making a positive impact on those around him.

“I knew Nick when he was at Fairfield and when he came to Talawanda we became pretty close,” Meece said. “Anybody you talk to about Nick Hrnyak, the first words out of their mouths are going to be, ‘What a great guy.’”

“It didn’t matter what he he was in. He wanted the best for all kids,” Holmes said of Hrnyak, who was assistant principal at Wilson Junior High School in Hamilton for six years before being named as Fairfield athletic director in 2000, a role in which he stayed for three years. “He was soft spoken, he was fair, and the kids respected him.”

Holmes and Hrynak, who also played football at the University of Cincinnati, both went to St. Joseph High School (now Villa-Angela St. Joseph) in Cleveland.

“He was the big man on campus,” Holmes said. “He was the quarterback on the football team, the leading scorer on the basketball team, a guy you could count on.”

They first met in 1966, Holmes said, when he was a young newcomer to St. Joseph and Hrnyak was a senior.

“He was such a great role model, a great mentor for me,” Holmes said. “He was the top dog, and for him to give me the time of day really meant a lot to me. I can’t say enough good things about him.”

Hrnyak is survived by his wife, Laura, and children, Rachel (Kevin Wilhelm) Hrnyak, Bo (Jaime) Hrnyak, Mike (Genna) Stammer, Ashley Stammer and Christopher Stammer.

A memorial celebration will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Wilson Middle School Gymnasium.