July 2, 2003

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death of Edward A. Halle, a Johns Hopkins Hospital administrator extraordinaire, mentor to generations of hospital executives and generous donor to the institution he served for 23 years. To me and so many others, he was a dear friend and an advisor. The entire Hopkins community will mourn his loss. A public memorial service for Mr. Halle will be held in Hurd Hall on on Friday, July 9 at 3 p.m. A reception will follow in the Phipps Building courtyard of The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Sincerely,

Ronald R. Peterson
President
The Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Johns Hopkins Health System

Obituary

Edward A. Halle, a Johns Hopkins Hospital administrator extraordinaire, mentor to generations of hospital executives and generous donor to the institution he served for 23 years, died July 2, 2004 at the Hospital from complications of a stroke sustained a few days earlier. He was 82.

A Baltimore native, Halle's retirement in 1993 from his post as Senior Vice President for Administration for The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System ended a formal career that began in 1970 with his appointment as administrator of the Hospital's outpatient clinic. But his frequent and energetic presence at the institution continued during a long, productive emeritus vocation. Working out of an office in the historic Dome at the center of the Hopkins campus, he brought historical memory, clever wit and the benefit of vast experience to colleagues until just a few days before his death.

"We've lost a treasure, a devoted member of the Hopkins family, and, for me personally, a dear friend and mentor," said Ronald R. Peterson, president of the hospital and health system. "Fortunately for Hopkins, his influence and his impact are permanent. He made Hopkins a better place."

A Park School and Johns Hopkins University graduate, Halle is recalled by family, friends and colleagues as a noted stickler for proper grammar, clear facts and civility, as well as an executive who brought a combination of vision and pragmatism to the challenge of dealing with rapid changes underway in health care in the 1970s and '80s.

Along with helping marshal Hopkins through the early years of the managed care revolution, Halle played a major role in Hopkins's 1984 acquisition of what was to become The Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and was, according to one authoritative account, one of the first to suggest that improvements in the old City Hospitals' finances after a year of Hopkins' management warranted a look at acquisition. He then became one of Hopkins's chief negotiators during a yearlong and often tendentious struggle over the terms.

Halle asked Walter Sondheim, a former president of the city school board, a long-time advisor to city mayors, and a good friend to "tell the mayor to sell us City Hospitals for a dollar." Sondheim later met with Mayor Schaefer and reported that the mayor "only had to hear [Halle's proposal] for five minutes before he was ready to go."

Renowned at Hopkins as an administrator for whom no detail was too bothersome and no task too small in his service to patients, it was not uncommon to find the senior vice president personally arranging patient admissions, outpatient appointments or urgent referrals. A common sight was Halle, in his trademark bow tie and business suit, walking at a fast clip down a hallway, picking up any stray piece of paper in his path.

When he retired, scores of individuals from Hospital trustees to employees raised funds to endow a Patient Service prize presented annually to an employee who exemplifies his commitment to such service. Nominations are based on letters that patients write to the hospital acknowledging special efforts by employees.

A relentless cheerleader for Hopkins, Halle once said "the longer I worked, the more impressed I was with Johns Hopkins Medicine. You could spend several lifetimes here and still not know everything." As self-proclaimed "house historian," he was the "go to" person for both important and arcane information about Hopkins's organizations and operations. He organized monthly lunches for professors and served on the board of trustees for Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Home Health Services and the Johns Hopkins Home Care Group. Along with his wife Ellen Weiler Halle, who for years served as a mental health counselor and instructor in the Department of Psychiatry, the family gave generous financial support to numerous departments and institutes. "Hopkins needs philanthropy to sustain itself," he once said, "and the people who work here probably know that better than anyone else."

Halle served as a Lieutenant J.G. in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific from 1943 to 1946, and worked in his family's shoe manufacturing business until the business was relocated out of Maryland. It was then he was recruited back to Hopkins, to begin his career in health administration, hired in 1970 by Robert Heyssel, M.D., who became director and later president of the Hospital.

A tireless worker, Halle was also, his family says, an equally tireless tennis player and water skier. "He played doubles just last Saturday," said son Ned Halle of Upperco, Maryland. "He also loved his summers at the family's lake house in Maine, where he water skied just last summer. He was too impatient to fish, but really liked to be on the water," he added.

Halle was a member of the Suburban Club, a member of the Advisory Board of the Blaustein Pain Treatment Center at Hopkins and a member of the National Council for Johns Hopkins Medicine. He also served for many years on the board of the Park School, where he and all of his children attended classes. A Park School graduation biography described him as having "overbounding enthusiasm for athletics" and as someone certain to "come out on top."

In addition to his wife of 56 years, Halle is survived by a daughter, Dr. Jan Halle, of Chapel Hill, NC; two sons, Edward A. Halle, Jr., known as Ned, of Upperco; and James Halle of Greenspring Valley; and five grandchildren, Abbie Suberman of New York City, Tom Suberman of New York City, Sophie Suberman of Chapel Hill, and Ellen and Nick Halle of Upperco. He was predeceased by a son, Michael W. Halle, in 1993.

Halle will be interred in a private ceremony on Sunday, July 4, 2004. A public memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, July 9, 2004, in Hurd Hall in The Johns Hopkins Hospital. A reception will follow in the Phipps Building courtyard of The Johns Hopkins Hospital.