Jan 22, 2025

GFVGA leader Charles Hall dies

Charles Hall, the former executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA), has died.

Hall, 74, died Jan. 20.

Hall was GFVGA’s executive director since the association was organized in 1996. Though he retired October 2021, Hall remained active in the organization, as executive director emeritus, aiding the group’s efforts, particularly its H-2A labor reform push, which he discussed with growers at GFVGA’s exhibit at the Jan. 8-11 Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference in Savannah, Georgia.

A celebration of life service is scheduled for Jan. 24 at 2:00 PM at First Baptist Church on the Square, LaGrange, Georgia, followed by a gathering of family and friends. Arrangements are being handled by the Striffler-Hamby Mortuary in LaGrange, Georgia. A full obituary is published.

Hall leaves a wife, Jan, of 49 years, two children, Emily Brewton and Tamlin Hall, six grandchildren, a brother, plus nieces and nephews.

In 1995, Hall started Association Services Group (ASG), a LaGrange-based professional management services that managed small and mid-size membership organizations, including GFVGA, which was founded that year. GFVGA represents Georgia’s growers of fresh produce, which includes fruit, vegetables, melons and pecans. Hall later sold ASG to existing management partners and veteran association management professionals Caitlin Hyatt, Samantha Kilgore and Katie Oxford.

“The Georgia farmer lost a true friend this week with the passing of Charles Hall,” said Russ Goodman, a former GFVGA board member. “He was a mentor to me and so many others. He spent most of his life advocating and fighting for our state’s farm families’ interests. He had his hands full with some of us back in the day. He watched many of us grow into middle aged men and women. He had a unique talent of molding people into leaders and I know that I and so many others are better people because of his influence.”

Service and contributions to agriculture were a hallmark of Hall’s career. He was the second employee hired for the Georgia Agrirama, Georgia’s State Museum of Agriculture in 1973, serving as director of the museum from 1977-1981. He worked in field services for the Georgia Farm Bureau and later as the chief operating officer of a public relations and communications company.

ASG serves more than 17 associations and membership organizations, eight of which are agricultural-related associations. In 1996, GFVGA was one of the first clients for Hall’s new company.

Hall has been recognized for his industry and association leadership. He received the Glenn Bostrom Award in 2019 for outstanding career achievement from the Association Management Company Institute. He was a member of “The Packer 25” leadership group in 2018 as well as the Clifford Clark Award in 2011, as the outstanding association executive in Georgia by the Georgia Society of Association Executives.

“The sudden and unexpected passing of Charles Hall will leave an enormous gap in the Georgia agriculture community, LaGrange, Troup County, Big Springs, and the Hall family. I feel honored to have been able to call him cousin and, more importantly, friend,” said Bill Pruitt.

Hall was born in 1950 in LaGrange to Tamlin and Mary Nell Hall. Hall’s father worked at a rural electric cooperative. The younger Hall grew up on a small farm near LaGrange. He attended the University of Georgia (UGA), earning both bachelor and masters degrees in horticulture.

Hall was president of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ alumni association board of directors.

Hall was an active member of First Baptist Church where he served as a deacon and greeter. He enjoyed his Friday morning Bible study group, which has been meeting for more than 45 years. Members of the group were to serve as honorary pallbearers.

Those wishing to share condolences or remembrances with the family may do so at www.shlagrange.com.