Ernest Francis Jackson, 97, died May 8, 2022, of congestive heart failure in a hospice close to his last home in the Heritage Lake seniors’ community in New Port Richey, FL.

He was born on Nov. 15, 1924, in Mineola, NY, the son of Ernest and Mary Cybulski Jackson. He grew up in Mineola, where he was the class clown, beginning a life of entertaining that ended only a few weeks before his death when he sang “I’ll be seeing you” to fellow residents at Sunflower Assisted Living.

After graduating from high school in 1942, Ernie followed his two older brothers into the Navy. He served on the submarine USS S-15, primarily in the Panama Canal area. After the war, he studied theatre at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art in New York City. He spent the next few years acting in Woodstock, NY,  and at venues in Greenwich Village before joining the first company of the legendary Circle in the Square theater off Broadway. (He is identified as Ernie Martin in Theodore Mann’s memoir, Journeys in the Night, which includes an account of those days.)

He later pursued a career in sales, first with the Burroughs Corporation (now part of Unisys) and later with Mutual of New York.

Throughout his life, Ernie’s passion was the theatre. Active in local theatre groups, he performed in everything from farces to serious dramas. In retirement, he won regional acting awards and sang in a senior men’s “Jubilee” chorus. He enjoyed traveling with his wife, particularly on cruises, where he routinely performed stand-up comedy on talent nights.

An inveterate New Yorker, he read The New York Times until his dying day.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Jacqueline Orlowski Jackson; three daughters from a prior marriage, Wendy Burton (Rob) of Oakville, ON, Bonnie Sonnenschein (Josef) of Redding, CT, and Victoria DeLaurentis (Vincent) of Rumson, NJ; sister Helen Plonus of Norwich, NY; and many grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

Burial is in Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, FL., at a later date.