Robert J. Hall, former Inquirer publisher and chairman, has died at 77

Robert J. Hall, 77, former longtime publisher and chairman of The Inquirer, who guided the paper and its parent companies through both exciting and turbulent times between 1990 and 2014, former publisher and chairman of the Detroit Free Press, philanthropist, civic leader, and Philadelphia native, died Monday of a heart attack at his home in Jupiter, Fla.

Mr. Hall, a lifelong newspaperman who delivered the Bulletin as a boy growing up in Frankford, was named publisher of The Inquirer and Daily News and chairman of Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. in 1990. He retired in 2003, returned to the paper as chief operating officer in 2011, steered the organization through contentious ownership changes, court battles, labor unrest, and many successes, and finally retired with his wife, Ronna, to Florida in 2014.

In greeting him in 1990 as publisher and chairman at The Inquirer, James K. Batten, then the chairman and chief executive of Knight-Ridder Inc., said Mr. Hall worked in a “full-of-heart, full-of-resilience … sort of way.” Mr. Hall told The Inquirer when he assumed the job: “Anyone who knows me knows that my style is to listen and to get a lot of input.”

Eileen Coleman, Mr. Hall’s longtime executive administrator, said he was “generous and kind, an ideal man in every way.” She said: “He loved the newspaper business and liked to say he had ink in his veins.”

Mr. Hall was executive vice president, general manager, and later publisher and chairman of the Detroit Free Press from 1985 to 1990, and he oversaw a merger of noneditorial operations of the Free Press and rival Detroit News that resulted in a controversial joint-operating agreement.

Earlier, he had served as controller, director of finance and treasurer, vice president of finance, and senior vice president at The Inquirer between 1973 and 1985.

In his early years as publisher of The Inquirer, Mr. Hall directed the opening of a new state-of-the-art printing plant in Upper Merion in 1992 and the addition of suburban editions in 1993 despite a slowdown in advertising revenue and production problems at the plant. Competition with emerging online publications and declining revenue continued to chip away at the paper’s solvency by the time he retired in 2003, and his return in 2011 included the new ownership’s rocky transition from bankruptcy to normal operations.

He created the Robert Hall Associates consulting firm in 2004 and taught and served on various boards for a while. In 2006, he became a paid senior adviser to a California investment group called Yucaipa Cos. that wanted to buy The Inquirer after it was purchased from Knight-Ridder by McClatchy Co. and in 2009 was a consultant to the hedge-fund operators Angelo Gordon & Co. and Alden Global Capital. After they succeeded in taking ownership at auction, he returned as COO in 2011.

Throughout his years in Philadelphia, Mr. Hall, despite his clashes with labor unions, company owners, editors, and others, embraced his role as the voice of The Inquirer and met often with those who disagreed with the paper’s coverage or editorials. “Part of fair and accurate reporting is listening to those who object,” he said in a 2003 farewell column for The Inquirer.

He was adamant, he said, that the paper “give back to the community and be a good corporate citizen.” And he defended the paper’s accuracy and fairness in 2003, saying: “The Inquirer does not create the news or try to slant it in any way.”

William K. Marimow, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and former top editor at The Inquirer, first worked with Mr. Hall as his assistant from 1991 to 1993. “He was a generous and knowledgeable mentor who spent considerable time helping me to understand the interrelationship between the business of the newspaper industry and journalism,” Marimow said.

Later, however, their connection grew strained as they lined up on opposite sides of ownership and newsroom conflicts. “Our relationship [then] was far more difficult,” Marimow said.

Born March 22, 1945, in Philadelphia, Robert John Hall was the son of a bus driver and homemaker. He was known as Bob to family and friends, graduated from Frankford High School in 1963, and earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Drexel University in 1967.

Driven and personable, he got a job in the Philadelphia office of the accounting firm Ernst & Ernst, now Ernst & Young, while he was still a student at Drexel, became a certified public accountant, and joined The Inquirer in 1973 as controller. He married Ronna Stroback in 1968, and they had daughter Marlo and son Matthew, and lived in Rydal and Penn Valley.

Mr. Hall was an avid golfer, and he enjoyed playing rounds with his grandson, Alec Stern. He liked to play poker with his buddies, sip wine with friends, and spend time with his children and son-in-law, Eric Stamps.

He served on many boards and was active with the Main Line Health Heart Leadership Council, the Franklin Institute Corporate Council, and other groups.

“He made everyone feel important and valuable,” his daughter said. His son said: “He was one of the most well-loved men in the city of Philadelphia.”

In 2003, Mr. Hall called his wife “my loving, supportive sounding board and partner, the backbone of my career.” On Tuesday, his wife said: “He made everyone around him comfortable in his magnetic presence. We had a really long love affair, and I am so grateful for the love he gave as a husband and father and poppy.”

In addition to his wife, children, grandson, and son-in-law, Mr. Hall is survived by a sister and other relatives. A brother died earlier.

A celebration of his life is to be announced.

Donations in his name may be made to the American Heart Association, 7272 Greenville Ave., Dallas, Texas 75231, and Lankenau Heart Institute, Development Department, Main Line Health, 240 N. Radnor Chester Rd., Suite 340, Radnor, Pa. 19087.