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.

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.

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.

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