Hal Haskell

Haskell was born in Wilmington, the son of Elizabeth (Denham) and Harry Garner Haskell, a DuPont executive.{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gd3LYUJGtXsC&q=%22Harry+Garner+and+Elizabeth+(Denham)+H.;%22&pg=PA1421 |title=Hearings |last1=House |first1=United States. Congress |year=1958}} He was educated at Tower Hill School in Wilmington, and St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts. He attended Princeton University from 1940 until 1942 when he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard Reserve.{{Cite web |date=January 23, 2020 |title=Harry G Haskell Jr Obituary |url=https://delawareonline.com/obituaries/wnj098524 |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=delawareonline.com |language=en}} 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, 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42 |title=HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. |work=GovTrack.us}} 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, 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.{{Cite web |date=2020-09-26 |title=Harry G. Haskell Jr. '44 |url=https://paw.princeton.edu/memorial/harry-g-haskell-jr-44 |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=Princeton Alumni Weekly |language=en}}

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.

On January 16, 2020, Haskell died in his home in Chadds Ford, age 98.{{cite web |title=Former Wilmington mayor and congressmen Hal Haskell dies at 98 |url=https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2020/01/17/former-wilmington-mayor-and-delawae-congressmen-hal-haskell-dead/4502963002/ |last=Affo |first=Marina |access-date=2024-03-11 |newspaper=The News Journal |language=en}} At the time of his death he had eight children, nineteen grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000318 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress ]
• [http://www.russpickett.com/history/sentbio4.htm#hask Delaware's Members of Congress ]
• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/haskell.html#R9M0IZS7R The Political Graveyard ]

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{{United States representatives from Delaware}}

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Category:1921 births

Category:2020 deaths

Category:20th-century mayors of places in Delaware

Category:United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II

Category:Businesspeople from Delaware

Category:Eisenhower administration personnel

Category:Mayors of Wilmington, Delaware

Category:Military personnel from Delaware

Category:People from Chadds Ford Township, Pennsylvania

Category:Princeton University alumni

Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Delaware

Category:St. Mark's School (Massachusetts) alumni

Category:United States Coast Guard officers

Category:Tower Hill School alumni

Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives