Eric Otto Hartmann

Eric Otto Hartmann of Berlin, New Jersey, died on September 19, 2026, at the age of 90. He was a Haddonfield boy, a Phillies man, a husband of sixty-six years, and, by his own accounting when asked to name his greatest talent, someone who cared about people.

Eric was born in 1936 and raised in Haddonfield, New Jersey, in a middle-class neighborhood he never stopped loving. He was the younger son of Joseph R. Hartmann, a printer who owned the Colonial Printing Company of Haddonfield, and Martha B. Hartmann, who, Eric said, never once spoke an unkind word about another person.

His entrepreneurial life began at a young age, when his father built him a cart to hitch to the back of his bicycle. Eric bought a block of ice for fifteen cents each night, hand-scraped snowballs in six homemade flavors, and sold them for a nickel apiece. He kept that ice scraper for the rest of his life.

He graduated from Haddonfield High School in 1954, where he played baseball for legendary coach Russ Spicer, sang in the choir, and served on the senior prom committee. He held a school record he liked to mention: a 10⅓-inning complete game against Merchantville, pitched on about 150 pitches, wearing a borrowed jersey because he was the sixteenth man on a fifteen-uniform squad.

Eric entered the United States Army on March 22, 1959, completed basic training at Fort Dix, and then trained on Nike Ajax missiles in El Paso, Texas. What he remembered most about Texas was the letters. Sandy wrote to him nearly every other day. He served three years, including time in the New Jersey National Guard.

On June 25, 1960, he married Sandra Finley at Martin Luther Chapel in Pennsauken, New Jersey, with a reception at Sherros restaurant. He knew she was the one the moment he saw her at a dance hall in Oaklyn. Sixty-six years later, he still called it the best choice he ever made.

His working life took him from Sun Oil Company to the job he had dreamed about since childhood: in 1969, he joined the Philadelphia Phillies as assistant treasurer. He later became the club’s head accountant, traveling with the team and attending spring training for more than a decade. Richie Ashburn was always his favorite Phillie. He later opened a Donuts Galore franchise in Marlton, raced standardbreds out of Garden State Park, and spent his final ten working years running the sales and use tax department at Automatic Data Processing. Alongside it all, for three decades he sold tickets at the Spectrum, the CoreStates Center (now Xfinity Mobile Arena), and Veterans Stadium as a member of IATSE Local 752.

He gave his time freely. He led a YMCA group in Haddonfield called the Rebels and designed their jackets himself. He served as president of the Voorhees Township Jaycees, raising money for families in need. Above all, he loved coaching youth baseball. In 1962, he coached the Haddonfield Babe Ruth 15-year-olds to the New Jersey state finals, and over the years he coached in the Gibbsboro-Voorhees Little League, in Babe Ruth ball, and for the beloved Mud Hens of the Tri-County Baseball League.

He loved spring, and the garden, and getting out on the lawn where he could talk baseball with the neighbors. He was still at it this spring, out edging the sidewalk at his daughter’s house at eighty-nine. He loved Christmas most of all: the late nights he and Sandy spent wrapping presents until three in the morning, and the sight of three children coming down the stairs.

His convictions were simple and firmly held: that all people are created equal, that there is no room for prejudice, that you help those less fortunate than you, and that you never forget to say thank you. Asked what advice he would leave future generations, he wrote: Treat people with kindness and respect all people.

He is survived by his wife of sixty-six years, Sandra (Finley) Hartmann; his son Jeff Hartmann and his wife, Marisa; his daughters Linda Santangelo and Jill Hartmann; six grandchildren, Emma Hartmann, Lily Hartmann, Brett Hartmann, Quinn Hartmann, Kyle Santangelo, and Luke Santangelo; and two great-grandchildren, Saoirse and Callum. He is also survived by his sister-in-law, Margaret Hartmann; his nephews Ed Hartmann and his wife, Teresa, and George Finley and his wife, Carleen; and his nieces Kim Lindemuth and Meg Swartz and her husband, Dan. He was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph R. Hartmann and Martha B. Hartmann of Haddonfield, New Jersey; his brother, Joseph B. Hartmann of Gibbsboro, New Jersey; his nephew, Joseph H. Hartmann; and his niece, Sharon Finley.  He is also survived by his longtime friend, Bruce Ogden of Cinnaminson, NJ.

Among his happiest memories was his 80th birthday in 2016, when the entire family spent a week in a house on the beach in Ocean City, New Jersey, with the front deck sliding doors opening straight onto the ocean view. He was not much of a beach guy. He thought it was wonderful anyway.

Mr. Hartmann’s family will receive relatives & friends on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026 from 9-10:15 AM at Kain-Murphy Funeral Services, 15 West End Ave., Haddonfield, NJ; where his Service will follow at 10:30 AM. All are invited to his interment at Locustwood Memorial Park in Cherry Hill, NJ.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in his memory to Fans for the Cure (www.fansforthecure.org) or the Food Bank of South Jersey (www.foodbanksj.org).