Earl Patterson Hall Obituary
Pat Hall always wore white neckties, and with them, a tie clip engraved with the letters YCDBSOYA. He gave away hundreds of similar tie clips and enjoyed telling people what the initials stood for: You Can't Do Business Sitting On Your Ass. Pat Hall did a lot of business.
He also did a lot of good. The self-made millionaire, developer of Carowinds and thousands of acres of industrial properties, had two heart attacks this week and died Thursday at 57. The funeral will be Saturday morning at 10 at Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church.
Hall will be buried in Evergreen Cemetery. "I guess we are all humbled when a great man dies, and Pat Hall was such a man," said Charlotte Mayor Ken Harris. "He was a man of great talent and energy who shared his talents to make Charlotte a better place to live." Thousands of people in the Charlotte area earn their living in plants and warehouses that are there largely because of Hall's genius in putting together large tracts to suit the needs of industries looking for a place to build. In an age of corporate conformity, he was the classic individual all-America wheeler-dealer, playing his business and civic roles with flair and gusto and a sure sense of command. His enormous energy and zest for life blurred the lines between work and play.
Lunch with Pat Hall usually meant Bloody Marys in his railroad car, furnished opulently in black and red leather like the traveling quarters of some railroad baron of the 1800. It was said he made more deals there than in his office. "One-hundred-hour workweeks were never anything unusual," said Bill Veeder, former Charlotte city manager who worked for Hall before taking his present job as president of the Greater Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. "As long as I've known him, I've never known him to go any speed except full speed." He never slowed down. When he was hospitalized about a month ago with heart trouble, he had several direct telephone lines installed in his room. "He turned it into an office, really," said one friend.
Among the millions of dollars' worth of industrial development Hall's land deals helped bring to the Charlotte area are the S65-million Westinghouse nuclear turbine plant in southern Mecklenburg County and the Philip Morris plant stated for construction in Cabarrus County. He also developed Arrowood, Texland, East Hall and Westhall industrial parks, and there were always rumors in the business community about what Hall’s next big deal might be. The day before Hall died, a friend who didn’t want to be quoted by name said, “He told me, ‘I got something bigger than Philip Morris,’ but he wouldn’t tell me what it was ….
He always liked to keep things private.” Hall transformed large visions into a personal fortune, but the project he probably cared most about - the $30-million Carowinds theme park straddling the state line just south of Charlotte - had little to do with personal profit. He eventually lost the park in 1974, amid continuing rumors that Carowinds, in its second season, was losing a lot of money. Hall said: “Even if Carowinds never made any money, if I've helped make some people happy, if I've given families something they can enjoy doing together, then it's worth the effort." Before the end of that year, Carowinds Corp., unable to repay its short-term construction loans or refinance them in a tight money market, sold the park to Family Leisure Centers Inc. for $16 million.
Although he was best known as a developer, Hall also was a major civic leader. He was chairman of the Charlotte Housing Authority Board of Commissioners from 1972 until his death. Hall also served on the N.C. Board of Conservation and Development under former Govs.
Dan Moore and Bob Scott. He also was active in politics. In 1968, he and his close friend, millionaire department store heir John Belk, decided one of them should run for mayor.
Belk ended up as the candidate, and Hall managed his successful campaign. In 1976, it was rumored Hall and his neighbor Ed O'Herron, a retired Eckerd Drugs executive, both might run for governor. O'Firrron ran, with Hall as his campaign manager and lost the Democratic primary to Jim Hunt.
Hall was known by those close to him as a devoted family man. He married Hope Pitts, then society writer for the Charlotte Observer, in 1948. They had four children: Pat Jr., 29, Jan, 27, Neal, 24, and Meg, 22.
One of the most painful times of his life, friends say, was when Pat Jr. was convicted in 1975 and sentenced to prison on a drug charge. In addition to his wife and children, Hall is survived by four brothers, James T., Fred N., Harold L. and Horace E., all of Charlotte; three sisters, Mrs. Ruth Adams of Lancaster, S.C., Mrs. Louise Funderburk and Mrs. Betty Phifer, both of Charlotte. At Saturday's funeral, pallbearers will be eight nephews, according to Hall's written instructions.
The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to charity.
