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Syracuse University junior Jason Mindich still remembers the text Jack Nathan sent to him June 7 at 1:28 a.m.

“It’s Jack Nathan, if you’re getting this message you’ve been a part of my life,” it read. “Over the past few months I’ve been building a clothing and art company surrounding my struggle with mental illness. It would mean the world to me if you checked it out.”

The text was Mindich’s formal introduction to Nathan’s brand, Happy Jack. Nathan began crafting sweatshirts in his dorm at the University of Colorado Denver as a hobby in November, but it quickly turned into his passion project.

Nathan died suddenly on July 3 at the age of 19. His friends and family are now continuing his brand.

The first collection for Happy Jack featured clothing and art that Nathan made. The brand donates a portion of its revenue to mental health organizations such as Child Mind Institute, a personal choice of Nathan’s.

Nathan’s parents now run the brand alongside Matthew Delseni and Brandon Dorflaufer, friends of Nathan. Other friends, including SU students Mindich and Parker Leavy, promote the brand in his honor through an ambassador program.

“If you were going to spend 20 minutes with this kid it would be the hardest you laughed ever,” said Leavy, a junior information, management and technology studies major.

Jack Nathan, the creator of Happy Jack, stands with one of his paintings before he died suddenly in July. Courtesy of Brandon Dorflaufer

Nathan befriended Delseni while in middle school in Livingston, New Jersey. Delseni got closer with Nathan as the years went by, and the two would experience some of Delseni’s favorite moments together.

“He was just a wild kid,” Delseni remarked.

When college rolled along, Delseni went to the University of Arizona while Nathan headed for Denver. When Nathan’s sophomore year came, he decided to put his passion for art into action.

Nathan designed sweatshirts in his college dorm that would later become the first installments of Happy Jack. Despite Delseni and Nathan being away from each other, Delseni helped design the Happy Jack logo.

But when the coronavirus spread across the country, Nathan and Delseni were sent back to Livingston. They began working to develop the brand in Nathan’s basement.

The two worked every day during quarantine to produce clothing and art, donating portions of their revenue to charities providing support for those with mental illnesses. Dorflaufer, a photographer and friend of Nathan and Delseni’s, photographed the clothes and promoted the brand on social media. All three would organize and package orders.

On the day of Nathan’s funeral in July, around 100 people showed up to the temple. Leavy’s father said to him that Nathan’s funeral was the first time he saw the rabbi cry.

SU junior Parker Leavy (left) grew up with Jack Nathan in Livingston, New Jersey, and now promotes Nathan’s brand Happy Jack. Courtesy of Parker Leavy

In the middle of the service, the rabbi took off his customary yarmulke and replaced it with a Happy Jack’s memorial hat. He wore it for the rest of the funeral.

Delseni has since been keeping busy in his garage, trying to maintain Nathan’s legacy. Though he’s no longer in Nathan’s basement listening to Mac Miller, collaborating on art or having “deep conversations” about life, Nathan is still there in spirit, Delseni said.

Happy Jack released a tie-dye t-shirt on its website this past Wednesday, Nathan’s birthday. The shirt was called “window to the soul,” and it represented Nathan’s green eyes, Mindich said. The shirt was on sale for 24 hours, and Delseni, Mindich and Leavy helped publicize the shirt on social media.

Delseni has been personally hand-dying the t-shirts in his garage. One after the other. All 434 of them.

“Anything for him,” Delseni said.

There’s another collaboration on the brand’s website, an “about” page that Nathan wrote with the help of Delseni. The page represents Nathan’s vision, Delseni said, and he doesn’t plan on changing it.

“This brand serves as a nod to everyone who feels trapped in their mind and a reminder to do precisely what is important to you,” Nathan and Delseni wrote in the passage. “Otherwise you’ll end up being normal, and normal is boring.”

Though Nathan and Delseni wrote it, one person signed it: Happy Jack.

Published on August 31, 2020 at 10:24 pm

Contact Christopher: cscargla@syr.edu | @chrisscargs