William Roy Hall, PhD

William Roy Hall, 78, of Monroeville, PA,  Bill as he was affectionately called, passed away peacefully at his home on October 22, 2019 at 4:30PM after a long battle with Parkinson's complicated by Lewy Body Dementia. He was surrounded with love and care from his wife, Judith (Judy) Irene Ellmer Hall, friends, and Heartland Hospice.

Bill had a voracious appetite for life. He was born March 5, 1941 in Philadelphia and adopted by his loving parents Alfred C. and Nannie Lee (Williams) Hall as a young child. He grew up in South Philly, but at his mother's insistence, attended a more academically-minded junior high school in West Philadelphia, following which he earned admittance to Central High School for Boys, the premier public Philadelphia academic high school at the time. While in Philadelphia, he relished his time at Penn's Archaeological Museum, the Franklin Institute, and the Fels Planetarium. If not there, you could find him with his nose buried in books at one at the city's many libraries, developing a voracious reading habit that he cultivated late into life. Upon graduation from high school in 1958, Bill started college at Drexel Institute of Technology, and through the vagaries of fate, instead found himself doing a very brief stint in the Navy. Upon his discharge, he investigated a smorgasbord of occupations, including working as a hospital corpsman, a radio & TV repair technician, and a surveyor for the City of Philadelphia. He eventually settled into a position as a pharmaceutical organic lab technician for SKF, which provided him the ability to earn his BS in Chemistry at LaSalle College (1968) in four years entirely at night. After earning his degree, he worked as a chemical publications indexer for Index Chemicus, with an emphasis on German and Russian publications.

He continued to feed his love of science by pursuing graduate work in chemistry at Princeton before obtaining his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1974. As scientifically driven as he was, Bill recognized the joys of travel and took some time off to enjoy the flavors Europe had to offer. He, and the love of his life Judy, traveled throughout Europe on two separate occasions between 1971 and 1973.  They also traveled to South America in 1976-77 to visit friends and to delight in what the Southern Hemisphere had to offer. Bill often boasted he would try any type of food once and that the only food he had never eaten was human flesh.  His boisterous sense of humor was well known to the students and faculty at Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC South Campus) where he lectured and mentored many students throughout his 27 year career as a Chemistry and Physics professor. He developed his own laboratory manual and an extensive set of General Chem I/II unit materials for his students' benefit during those years. He held membership in the American Physical Society and was a 50 year member of the American Chemical Society. 

He will be remembered by many friends who enjoyed his zest for living a full life. His varied palette for knowledge led him to purchase and enjoy a vast collection of both fiction and non-fiction books, and he enjoyed reading on a Kindle well into his later years.  He exposed his loved ones and colleagues to his intense passion for all genres of music, movies, games, science fiction, and ideas that would boggle the mind. He was an extensive collector and lived by the adage "God Bless the Child That's Got his Own", the title of a Billie Holliday song.  He carried collecting to the nth degree, sharing a love of model railroading, science fiction action figures, DVDs, CDs, vinyl records (LPs and 45s), and of course, books. Another activity he took delight in was sampling cuisines. In his younger days he would request a different dish every day of the month and often wash it down with a Pepsi or Molsen, for which he developed a taste during his post-doc year in Ontario, Canada. However, he never ate leftovers. During his last year he enjoyed numerous treats brought by friends, and Judy never let his dietary difficulties keep her from giving him the wide variety of flavors and textures he craved. In his final days, when he was unable to consume much food, he was kept both comforted and comfortable, his nurse commenting that he was living on love. He is survived by Judy, his loving wife of 45 years (and companion of 48 years);  nieces Paula and Missy Dellavalle, and two children from a previous marriage Rae Lynette Hall-Goodman and Rolanda Lucasta Hall all of Philadelphia, PA. 

Friends and Family are invited to a Celebration of Life at the Hall residence where you will be able to indulge in your choice of a brunch or lunch menu and to share memories and love of a life well lived. You will not leave hungry.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that MEMORIAL DONATIONS in Bill’s name be made to Central High’s Associated Alumni organization using the link https://aachs.z2systems.com/np/clients/aachs/donation.jsp?campaign=5  (William Roy Hall, class number 210, acknowledgee is Judy) or to the charity or food bank of your choice.

Arrangements entrusted to Jobe Funeral Home & Crematory, Inc. (MONROEVILLE/ PLUM CHAPEL) (412-856-4747) www.jobefuneralhome.com

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