051B82C3-C769-1B7E-A06F53CF56A92CF5
35FD37AD-4F18-49EE-B492086102E014DC

Robert Theodore Hall '37

May. 17, 1916-Sep. 17, 2003

Robert Theodore Hall ’37, a retired broadcasting sales director, was born on May 17, 1916, to Harold S. and Ruth Stockwell Hall, in Detroit, MI. When Bob Hall was a child, his father’s laundry business took the family to Lewiston, NY, near Niagara Falls. They lived on a farm outside of town, and Bob grew up as a “country boy” who received his primary education in a one-room schoolhouse. He prepared for college at the DeVeaux School, a military academy in Niagara Falls. “Head boy” at the school in his senior year, he came to Hamilton following his graduation in 1933. He joined Chi Psi, fenced and played tennis, acted with the Charlatans, and participated in intercollegiate debate. He excelled academically, won the Squires Prize in Philosophy, became president of the History Club, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Described as “a California-mad Faulknerite” in The Hamiltonian, Bob Hall headed for the Golden State not long after receiving his diploma in 1937. He earned an M.A. degree in English literature from the University of Southern California in 1940 and briefly taught English and speech at Colorado State University in Fort Collins before being lured back to California by the offer of a job with CBS Radio in Los Angeles. Less than a year later, however, he received his “Greetings” from Uncle Sam. He served in the U.S. Army from 1941 through the end of World War II, and while on a weekend pass, met Margaret S. Admire. They were married in Los Angeles on August 9, 1942. Sergeant Hall and his bride spent the remainder of the war years in Phoenix, AZ, where Bob was a finance section chief clerk with the Quartermaster Corps.

In late 1945, the couple returned to Los Angeles, and in 1954, after doing radio program writing for CBS and a brief stint as a copywriter for an advertising agency, Bob Hall began selling advertising time for the American Broadcasting Company’s radio station KABC. Promoted from account executive to director of marketing research and sales development in 1969, he retired from KABC after 25 years in 1979. He left behind a legacy of innovation in computerizing radio marketing demographics, which he carried out at a time when the computer was still commercially new.

In retirement, Bob Hall did his best to satisfy his “insatiable appetite” for reading, golf, and travel, especially ocean cruises to places far away. Earlier, his chief avocation had been composing and calling square dances, and in addition to his popularity as a caller, he created several dances that had wide appeal. Along the way he also found time to indulge his passion for writing by penning The Norway Nightmare, “an oceanographic spy thriller.”

Robert T. Hall, long a resident of Glendale and an ever faithful and supportive alumnus and onetime president of the Southern California Alumni Association, died in Glendale on September 17, 2003. Predeceased by his wife five months earlier, he is survived by two sons, Theodore E. and Thomas M. Hall; two daughters, Victoria Crabb and Roberta Whitmore; and seven grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

 

Necrology Home

Help us provide an accessible education, offer innovative resources and programs, and foster intellectual exploration.

Site Search