Donald J. Hall, Sr.
Donald J. Hall Sr. (born 1929) is the chairman of the board and majority shareholder of Hallmark Cards, the world's largest greeting card manufacturer and one of the world's largest privately held companies. Hallmark's headquarters is in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.. He and his wife, Adele (1931 - 2013), live in Mission Hills, Kansas. He is one of Kansas City's billionaires, and the Hall Family Foundation, which he founded, is one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the United States.
Early life
Hall was one of three children of Joyce Hall (d. 1982). Joyce Hall started selling greeting cards out of Kansas City YMCAs at the age of fifteen and subsequently founded Hallmark Cards, which quickly grew into a major corporation. This led to great prosperity and prominence in Kansas City. As was customary for the sons of many prominent Kansas Citians at the time, Donald Hall attended The Pembroke-Country Day School in Kansas City from primary school onward. He graduated with the class of 1946 at the age of 17.
After graduating, Hall worked as an assistant salesman for Hallmark, traveling the midwestern United States. Hall then attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, still working a nearby sales territory for Hallmark while completing an A.B. in economics. Upon graduation from Dartmouth in 1950, he joined the United States Army, served most of his military career as an officer at a small post in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. After returning from abroad, he married his wife, Adele, in Kansas City. They had three children, Donald J. Hall, Jr., Margaret Hall (now Pence), and David E. Hall.
Career and philanthropy
Hall returned to Hallmark in 1953 and became assistant to the president in 1954. In 1966, after he had served as an administrative vice president and member of the board of directors of the company, Hall's father, Joyce Hall, retired as chairman, president, and CEO of Hallmark, handing full control of the company to Donald.
As chairman, president, and CEO of Hallmark, Hall worked both to increase the prominence of the company in the international business community and also to develop Kansas City. He founded the Hall Family Foundation, which consistently gives away tens of millions of dollars a year to public and private education, social welfare causes, religious causes, and civic beautification both in Kansas City and throughout the surrounding region. Because of this, former President George H. W. Bush named Hall chairman of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Hall and his foundation permanently loan significant works of art to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. His civic beautification efforts have resulted in the establishment of Crown Center in midtown Kansas City and the redevelopment of the Quality Hill historic neighborhood in downtown Kansas City. As a result, Hall, his company, and his foundation, are together the largest private landowner in the Kansas City area. He is also one of only three honorary alumni of the University of Kansas.
Hall has long been active in local and national politics. He is a major campaign contributor, especially to Republican candidates throughout the United States.
During Hall's tenure as head of Hallmark, he expanded the company into both crayons (buying Binney & Smith, manufacturer of Crayola products) and television production (Hallmark Entertainment). Hallmark's greeting card operation also began consistently to account for more than half of all greeting cards sold in the United States.
In 1986, Hall stepped down as president and CEO of Hallmark, turning those positions over to Irvine O. Hockaday, Jr., a native Kansas Citian and national businessman. Hall, however, retained the position of chairman of the board, as he remains the company's largest shareholder by far. Since deferring direct control of the business, he has concentrated on his philanthropic and political finance efforts.
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