Donald J. Hall, Sr.
Donald J. Hall Sr. (
1929 -) is the current Chairman of the Board and majority shareholder of
Hallmark Cards, the world's largest greeting card manufacturer and one of the worlds largest privately-held companies, located in
Kansas City,
Missouri,
USA. He and his wife, Adele, live in
Mission Hills,
Kansas. One of Kansas City's only
billionaires, the Hall Family Foundation, which he founded, is one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the United States.
Hall was one of three children of
Joyce Hall (d. 1982). Joyce Hall started selling
greeting cards out of Kansas City
YMCAs at age fifteen and subsequently founded Hallmark Cards, which quickly grew into a major corporation. This led to great prosperity and prominence in Kansas City. In line with other prominent Kansas Citians at the time, Hall attended
The Pembroke-Country Day School in Kansas City from elementary school forward, graduating in the class of 1946 at the age of 17.
After graduating from high school, he 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 his 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, 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.
Hall returned to Hallmark in
1953 and became Assistant to the President in
1954. In
1966, after Donald had served as an Administrative Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of Hallmark, 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 worked to develop Kansas City. As such, he founded the Hall Family Foundation, which consistently gives away hundreds 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 the majority of the collection of 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 Chairman, President, and CEO 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 consummate national businessman. Hall, however, retained the position of Chairman of the Board, as he remains the company's overwhelmingly majority shareholder. Since deferring direct control of the business, however, he has instead concentrated on his philanthropic and political finance efforts.
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