Hal Haskell

Haskell was born in Wilmington, the son of Elizabeth (Denham) and Harry Garner Haskelll, a DuPont executive.[1] He was educated at Tower Hill School in Wilmington, and St. Mark's School, Southborough, Massachusetts. He attended Princeton University from 1940 until 1942 when he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard Reserve.[2] He was made an ensign in 1943 and was discharged as a lieutenant (junior grade) in 1946.

Haskell was the personnel manager of Speakman Co. in 1947 and 1948, and president of Greenhill Dairies, Inc., from 1948 until 1953, and then owner and operator of Hill Girt Farm in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. He was secretary of the Departmental Council of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1953 and 1954, consultant to the special assistant to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1955,[2] and president of the University of Delaware Research Foundation.

Haskell was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions from 1952 until 1984 and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1956, defeating incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative Harris McDowell. Haskell voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.[3] He served in the Republican minority in the 85th Congress but lost his bid for a second term in 1958 to McDowell. Haskell served from January 3, 1957, until January 3, 1959, during the administration of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was elected mayor of Wilmington, Delaware, in 1969, serving one term until 1973, being as of 2023 the most recent Republican to serve as mayor of Wilmington.

In 1970, he was appointed a member of the President's National Reading Council and was president of Abercrombie and Fitch. He also worked with Computer International, Computer Time Sharing, Inertial Motors Corps, and Interpoint Corp.[4]

He was a founding member of the Brandywine River Museum and Conservancy in Chadds Ford and served on the board for over fifty years. He was also instrumental in creating two empowerment and mentor groups, in Worcester, Massachusetts and Wilmington Delaware; Dynamy and Delaware Futures, respectively.[2]

On January 16, 2020, Haskell died in his home in Chadds Ford. He was 98 years old.[5] At the time of his death he had eight children, nineteen grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.[2]

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Delaware's Members of Congress
• The Political Graveyard