Robert A. Hall

Robert A. Hall, CAE, served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.

Political career

He was first elected in 1972, the year he graduated from U-Mass, by a margin of nine votes out of over 60,000 cast. He was the first Republican elected in what was then the Third Worcester District since 1938. The district was compromised of the cities of Fitchburg, Leominster and Gardner, and ten area towns. Hall lived in Lunenburg, MA when elected, later moving to Fitchburg.

Hall was re-elected in 1974 by a margin of 10,000 votes, carrying every city and town in the heavily Democratic district. In 1976, he was nominated by both parties, winning the Democratic primary on write-in votes against a Leominster City Councilor. He was unopposed in 1978, and easily won reelection in 1980, winning 78% of the vote against a Democrat from Gardner. Hall was appointed Assistant Minority Whip in 1978 and Minority Whip in 1980. Hall worked with members of both parties, and over 60 pieces of legislation he sponsored became law. He retired undefeated in 1982.

Life outside politics

Hall was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1946, graduated from Collingswood High School, Collingswood, NJ in 1964, and joined the Marine Corps that summer. He served four years from 1964 until 1968, including service in Vietnam as a Radio Relay Team Chief at Khe Sanh in 1967. Hall left the Corps as a Corporal in 1968 to attend college, but rejoined the Marine Reserves while in the senate, serving from 1977 to 1983 as a radio operator and public information officer. He finally left the Corps in 1983 as a staff sergeant, due to time conflicts with his civilian profession, declining a commission as a Second Lieutenant at that time.

Hall earned an AA degree from Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, MA in 1970, where he served as Student Council President. He received a BA degree in Government from the University of Massachusetts, where he was on the student senate, in 1972. While serving in the Massachusetts Senate, Hall earned a MEd in History from Fitchburg State College in 1980, attending in the evening.

After leaving the Senate, Hall entered the profession of association management, serving first as Executive Director of the Florida Psychological Association. He holds the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential from the American Society of Association Executives, and has successfully managed several associations. From July 2002 until august of 2007, Hall was Executive Director of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry in Madison, WI. AACD is a professional association with 23 staff and 7,800 members in 60 countries.

A frequently-published freelance writer, Hall’s columns, articles, short stories and poetry have appeared in over 50 local and national publications, and his collection of anecdotes about Association Management, the Marines & the Senate, "The Good Bits", was published by Author House in 2005 [http://www.thegoodbits.com] . His articles on Association Management often appear in professional publications.

Hall is active in Scottish activities, has traveled to Scotland over 20 times, and is co-designer of the Leatherneck Tartan for US Marines, a registered Scottish tartan. He met his wife, Bonnie, a computer professional, when she attended a Scottish Country Dance class he was teaching in Tallahassee, FL.