J. Parker Hall III, Life and Emeritus Trustee, 1933 — 2011

J. Parker Hall III, longtime president of Lincoln Capital Management and an Emeritus Trustee of the University of Chicago, died Sept. 22. Hall, 78, was a resident of Winnetka.

He was the third generation of James Parker Halls to serve the University. His grandfather, James P. Hall, was the first permanent Dean of the Law School, serving from 1904 until his death in 1928. His father, J. Parker Hall, a graduate of the University, was University Treasurer from 1946 until his retirement in 1969.

J. Parker Hall III attended the University of Chicago for two years, before transferring to Swarthmore College, where he met his future wife, Julie. He graduated from Swarthmore in 1955, and received an MBA from Harvard University in 1957. He was elected to the University of Chicago Board of Trustees in 1988. Hall became a Life Trustee in 2004 and a Trustee Emeritus in 2007.

In 1983, Hall and his wife, Julie established the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professorship in Law, currently held by Richard Epstein, in honor of Parker's grandfather. The professorship was named in honor of J. Parker Hall III’s grandfather.

The couple also established the Julie and Parker Hall Endowment for Jazz and American Popular Music has funded jazz concerts, lectures, research and other events.

In addition, they contributed the Julie and Parker Hall Botanic Garden Endowment Fund helped renew Botany Pond. The Halls' gifts also have supported the Division of the Humanities and the Laboratory Schools.

Hall was born in New York City and lived on Long Island until the family moved to Highland Park in 1947. 

After receiving his MBA, Hall held four positions in finance and investments before joining Lincoln Capital Management Company in 1971. He remained there as president for nearly 30 years, a period when the firm’s assets under management grew from less than $50 million to over $80 billion.

Hall was a prolific writer on a wide range of investment topics, many of which were published in the Financial Analysts Journal. In 2000, he received the first Hortense Friedman Award from the Investment Analysts Society of Chicago. 

He served as trustee and chairman of the investment committees of the University of Chicago, Swarthmore College, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia Festival, and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. 

He was also a trustee of the Nature Conservancy of Illinois, a board member of the LaSalle Street Fund and an advisor to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.

Hall and his wife were honored for their long service and philanthropy, together receiving the University of Chicago’s Medal of Honor, the ACLU’s Roger Baldwin Award, and North Shore Country Day School’s Foster Hannaford Recognition.

An avid tennis player, Hall at one time ranked simultaneously in the Chicago metropolitan area as No. 1 in both the 35- and 45-year-old categories. Over the years he played in four national men’s tournaments and two national father-son tournaments with his son, Kerry. The family also enjoyed many camping, canoeing and fishing trips.

He loved to play and listen to jazz piano, and he established his own dance band in college, Hall’s Heavenly Half Dozen. In later years, Hall was honored to host Dick Hyman, among the finest living jazz pianists, to perform in a recital in his home.

In addition to his wife, Parker is survived by their three children, Martha (Sam Bousfield), Kerry (Shauna Scott), Alison (Brad Gann), and eight grandchildren, Lindsey Connor, Russell Bousfield and Whitney Yun-Bousfield, Marissa and Riley Hall, Cole, Jameson, and Silas Gann, and by his two younger brothers, Ferris (Nancy) and Bronson (Michele).   

Burial was at the family farm in Vicksburg, Miss. Memorial contributions may be made to the Nature Conservancy, 8 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 900, Chicago, IL 60603 or the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU, 180 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 2300, Chicago, IL 60601.