Donald J. Hall, 96, Dies; Expanded Hallmark Beyond Greeting Cards

Donald J. Hall, the son of a founder of the greeting card giant Hallmark who as the company’s top executive transformed it by adding new product lines; increasing its emphasis on television; and, with his father, J.C. Hall, developing a commercial and retail complex in Kansas City, Mo., died on Oct. 13 at his home in Mission Hills, Kan. He was 96.

The company announced his death.

Mr. Hall spent his entire working life at Hallmark, a private company started by his father and two brothers. In 1983, during his 17th and last year as the company’s president, Donald Hall took the unusual step of disclosing information about the company’s finances, telling the Kansas City Rotary Club that Hallmark’s revenues would be $1.5 billion that year, up from $149 million in 1966, when he succeeded his father as president.

“We couldn’t have done what we’ve done if we weren’t private,” he told The Kansas City Star in 2010. “We haven’t had to worry about every month’s financial failures.”

As president and later as chairman, Mr. Hall oversaw the introduction of new product lines like the humorous Shoebox greeting cards and others aimed specifically at Black, Hispanic and Jewish consumers. He also extended the company’s traditional card business into books, stickers, albums, mugs, candles, puzzles, jewelry, glass and pewter gifts, and wall-decor products.

In 1984, Hallmark acquired Binney & Smith, known for making Crayola crayons, for $204 million. At the time, Mr. Hall told The Star: “We are extremely proud of our employees, our products and our company. We are delighted to identify another company that shares our own goals, directions and attributes.”

By then, the company had become far too large for Mr. Hall to micromanage it as his father once did. Until the early 1960s, J.C. Hall was known to initial the back of every greeting card design and add his OK.