Retired Longwood history professor dies

L. Marshall Hall Jr., associate professor emeritus of history at Longwood University, died March 27. He was 82 and lived in Farmville.

Hall taught at Longwood from 1963 until retiring in 2000, chaired what was then the Department of History and Political Science from 1978-88 and was faculty marshal from 1965-83. He received the Student Faculty Recognition Award in 1991 and the Maria Bristow Starke Faculty Excellence Award in 1984. He served on numerous committees, was adviser to Pi Gamma Mu, an international honor society in social sciences, and had done extensive research on William Lewis Sharkey (1798-1873) an influential Mississippi statesman before, during and after the Civil War.

“My dear friend and mentor, Marshall Hall, was a master storyteller who inspired several generations of history students and was a true friend to all his colleagues,” said Dr. William Harbour, associate professor of political science. “He was my guide and protector who possessed what sages call ‘greatness of soul.’ I shall always remember his friendship, his sense of humor and his ability to recite Shakespeare and General Patton at length. His former students will certainly remember his gifts.”

Hall’s home contains “gifts from students whose lives he touched, expressions of gratitude to a teacher of singular capability,” said his elder son, Jeffrey Hall. “A careful thinker and astute observer, he brought quality to all that he did. We are diminished by his loss, but we who have known him—whether as a friend, teacher, colleague, husband or father—are magnified by his presence in our lives.”

A Portsmouth native and U.S. Navy veteran, Hall had B.A. and M.A.T. degrees from Duke University. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Janet; two sons, Jeffrey Hall of Flagstaff, Ariz., and Jared Hall of Fredericksburg; and grandsons Jonathan, Benjamin and Nicholas. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Longwood’s Department of History, Political Science and Philosophy, 201 High St., Farmville, Va. 23909, or to the United States Naval Academy Foundation, 2901 Wood Road, Beach Hall, Annapolis, Md. 21402.