A Celebration of Life for Robert Hale will be held at 3 p.m., Friday, Aug. 18, at Waverley Country Club, 1100 S.E. Waverly Dr. Portland, OR.
The Celebration of Life is adults only, please.
Mr. Hale, founder and longtime President and CEO of River Point Farms, passed away July 30 after a 34-month battle with advanced cancer. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Kelly Kilkenny Hale; their daughter and greatest gift, Hannah Hale Redfern (Luke); grandchildren, Rowan, Henry “Hank” and Robert Hale “Bobby” Redfern. Mr. Hale is also survived by siblings, Chris (Don Wilson), Doug (Sheryle Hale), Jackie (Steve Nelson), and Rick Hale. He was predeceased by his parents, Robert “Bob” and Jane “Adell” Hale.
Robert Craig was born Nov. 5, 1953, in Pendleton, OR, the middle of five children born to Bob and Adell. He grew up on a farm outside of Echo, OR, and graduated from Echo High School in 1971. Bob was the first of his family to attend university, earning his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1975 from Lewis & Clark University, where he was a four-year letterman and leading player on the varsity football team.
After college, he returned home and began a career in real estate development and agriculture. He was self-made and understood the value of hard work.
On Dec. 22, 1984, he married Kelly Kilkenny from Heppner, his lifelong love and partner. They shared a love of rural Oregon, family and hard work, and they spent 40 years enjoying family and friends, working hard and traveling the world.
Bob and Kelly raised an amazing daughter, Hannah, who married Luke Redfern and had three children, Rowan, Hank, and Bobby. Bob also had the opportunity to share a relationship with his biological son, Steve Heinle, and granddaughter, Kennedy Heinle.
Bob was Founder, President and CEO of Hale Companies, Hale Farms and River Point Farms. He founded, led and grew the first-generation operation into one of the largest global onion suppliers. He was adept in production, agriculture and real estate. The first-generation operation grew into farming nearly 40,000 acres and producing and processing over 1 billion pounds of vegetables.
In rotation with the onions, the companies grew a host of other crops, including potatoes, grass-seed, wheat and corn. A majority of this was produced on irrigated land developed by the companies and various partners.
In addition, a large portion was packed, processed, and sold in facilities built by the companies. His philosophy of “sell it before we grow it” led to supply relationships with large global consumer companies, including Subway, Frito-Lay, Chipotle, Wendy’s, Lamb-Weston and others. This focus on contracting irrigated land development, year-round supply relationships, and value-added growth were industry-leading.
In 2016 Bob led the sale of Hale farms (including over 20,000 farm acres and 300 million pounds of climate-controlled warehouses) and River Point Farms (growing, fresh-cut processing, packaging, and sales) to one of the country’s largest agriculture-land owner operators.
Bob was a tremendous mentor and developer of talent.
His obituary said, “He believed in people and cared deeply for all members of his teams. His legacy lives on through their numerous roles in industry and community leadership positions.”
In addition to serving on many company and industry boards, Bob held a seat on the Federal Reserve Bank – 12th District from 2011-2017. After he sold his business in 2016 most of his time was spent in Portland, Sun Valley and Santa Monica with his family, highlighted by time with his grandchildren.
Duck Sporting Events with the Kilkenny Family were also frequent on his schedule.
“His generosity and love of family and friends was truly his legacy. He made sure there was never an empty glass,” the tribute said.
The Hale family would like to thank Dr. Brian Druker and the amazing team at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute for Bob’s care. “We are forever indebted to his incredible doctors, nurses and especially Jayme Higgins. We will never forget the care that was given to Bob and our family,” the family said in the tribute.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers remembrances be made to: Knight Cancer Institute, Dr. Brian Druker, OHSU Foundation, P.O. Box 29017, Portland, OR 97296. Honoring Robert “Bob” Hale.
