Longtime GFVGA executive director dies at 74

The longtime executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA) has died.

Charles Hall, 74, died Jan. 20. Hall served as the organization’s executive director since its formation in 1996 until his retirement in 2021.

After his retirement, Hall continued to aid the group’s efforts, particularly its H-2A labor reform push, which he discussed with growers at the Jan. 8-11 Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference in Savannah, Georgia.

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 also founded that year. ASG serves more than 17 associations and membership organizations, eight of which are agricultural-related associations.

GFVGA represents Georgia’s growers of fresh produce.

“The Georgia farmer lost a true friend this week with the passing of Charles Hall,” Russ Goodman, a former GFVGA board member, said in a statement. “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.”

Hall was the second employee hired for the Georgia Agrirama, the former name of the state museum of agriculture, in 1973, and he served 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.

Hall received the Glenn Bostrom Award in 2019 for outstanding career achievement from the Association Management Company Institute, as well as the Clifford Clark Award in 2011 as the outstanding association executive in Georgia from the Georgia Society of Association Executives.

Hall earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in horticulture at the University of Georgia.