Drew Hurley; was popular, personable salesman; at 49

“Drew would have five calls holding for him,’’ said his wife, Christine Fazzone, who worked at the company. “We would offer the customers three different people who could help them, and they would say, ‘No, I want to hold for my man, Drew.’ ’’

Worth the wait, Mr. Hurley ensured that all the customers who bought electrical wire and cable ended their phone calls believing their concerns were paramount. He had a lot of practice making people feel that way.

“No matter who you were, even if you met him for 10 minutes, he made you feel special,’’ said his sister Janne Clare of Santa Monica, Calif. “If you were the guy working across the counter at CVS, he made you feel like you owned CVS. He’d talk with people and find out things to make those relationships special. He met people on such a natural, amazing level.’’

Mr. Hurley, who made sure everyone knew that the two most important people in his life were his wife and daughter, whom he always called “my girls,’’ died of a heart attack Dec. 26 while on vacation with his family, visiting his sister in Kauai, Hawaii. He was 49 and lived in Boston.

At places like the University Club, where he played squash a few blocks from his Bay Village home, Mr. Hurley was regarded so fondly that he might be mistaken for a prince, but the reason for such reverence was that he treated everyone like royalty.

“He knew every employee’s name before anyone else did,’’ David Newton of Boston, who played squash with Mr. Hurley, wrote in an e-mail. “Chef, valet, locker room attendant — called them all by name.’’

And Mr. Hurley never let friends forget his affection for them, even if he was just giving someone a lift after a game.

“He would drive me home first,’’ Newton wrote. “Every night his last words to me would be, ‘Who loves you, Bro?’ ’’

“Drew was just so generous and so loving all the time,’’ said his sister Marisa, whom Mr. Hurley was visiting when he died. “He never got mad at anybody, he never raised his voice, and he would never leave the room without giving you a kiss and telling you that he loved you. He had such a warm spirit.’’

He also had a nickname for everyone. If a friend already had a moniker, Mr. Hurley would invent his own variation that became part of a unique bond.

Kyle Woodman, a fraternity brother from Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., is Woody to most people, but “to him, I was ‘Woodsie, Woodsie, Woodsie.’ ’’

Those who knew Mr. Hurley from his days in Chi Psi had a name for him, too. “He was just a genuinely good man,’’ Woodman said. “I don’t know one person in my life who’s ever said a bad word about Dude. He was nicknamed Dude because he was such a cool guy.’’

Drew Stephen Hurley grew up in Lexington, where he graduated from Lexington High School in 1979 and lettered in hockey three times.

He spent a postgraduate year at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Conn., then went to Union College. A few months before graduating in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in history, he met Christine Fazzone.

“It was just love at first sight,’’ she said. “He said: ‘Why don’t you come to Boston? There’s lots of good schools there.’ ’’

Mr. Hurley, meanwhile, went to work at the family business.

“He did everything from cleanup to working on the wire machines to delivery to working in the warehouse,’’ said his brother Arthur III of Charlestown. “He literally did everything to reach the position he was in, and then he became our premier salesperson.’’

Despite Mr. Hurley’s dedication to work, though, “when it was time for his family, he left,’’ his brother said. The same was true in the evening at the University Club, where Mr. Hurley would grab a Bud Light after an always vigorous game.

“And at 7:30, he’d always say, ‘I’ve got to get home to my girls,’ ’’ Newton said.

“That’s what we were, his girls,’’ Mr. Hurley’s wife said. “Our daughter, Casey, was really the sunshine of his life and she was Casey girl; he always called her Casey girl. Everybody knew that we were the girls.’’ In addition to his wife, daughter, two sisters, and brother, Mr. Hurley leaves his parents, Arthur Jr. and Marybeth (O’Keefe) of Lexington; another brother, Matthew of Boston; and two other sisters, Jill of Lexington and Lara of Boston.

A funeral Mass was held. Burial was in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

As cards and letters arrived after Mr. Hurley died, his family noticed a common theme.

“All the letters ended, ‘Drew was my best friend,’ ’’ Janne said. “We were laughing and saying wait until they all get together and find out they were all his best friend. Drew had 50 best friends. How many people can say that?’’

Bryan Marquard can be reached at bmarquard@globe.com.