A Lifetime of Discovery, Shared
September 24, 2026Meet the man whose fascination with the world around him inspired him to protect history close to home.
For nearly three decades, Don Hall drove to work and marveled at the homes along Rochester’s East Avenue. He started this habit in the 1960s, more than 40 years after the heyday of mansion-building for the likes of George Eastman, Henry Strong, and Hiram Sibley. He wondered about the styles and origins of the mansions still standing, and the ones that had been lost to time, neglect, and demolition.
At work, Hall helped people explore distant worlds. During his 25 years as director of the Strasenburgh Planetarium, he led innovations that brought worldwide recognition to Rochester, and he even trained astronauts in NASA’s space program, including Neil Armstrong.
Outside of work, Hall rarely encountered a subject he didn’t want to learn more about.
He researched who built the homes on East Avenue, their connections to Rochester, and each house’s unique features. What he uncovered inspired a series of five, hour-long talks and shorter programs, such as “Some of the Missing Mansions” and “Two Prolific Architects Who Designed 25% of the Mansions.”
Over time, Hall assembled 19 lectures from his many curiosities. Some explored familiar passions like stars and architecture. Others reflected his delight in the unexpected: Depression glass, theater organs, hamburgers, and zinc grave markers.
The Belief Behind the Legacy
While working as a tour guide at the Mount Hope Cemetery, Hall heard about a Mexican belief that you die three times. The first is when your heart stops beating; the second is when you are buried or cremated; and the third is when the last person says your name.
In 2006, Hall began building a fund that would support historic preservation long after he was gone. He described the Donald S. Hall Fund as “my chance at immortality.”
Don would make gifts of $100 or $200 at a time, often from speaker fees from the many talks he gave locally and across the country.
“People have asked me in the past, ‘If you had not had a career in the planetarium field, what would you like to have done?’ I said, ‘Be a philanthropist.’ That was a joke at the time, but now I am one.”
Historic Preservation Transformed by Generosity
Starting in 2027, Hall’s estate gift will approximately double the Community Foundation’s annual historic preservation grantmaking.
Hall spent decades helping people see what others overlooked, whether in the night sky, the cemetery, or along East Avenue. Through the fund he created, that work will continue, telling his story and preserving what he spent his life learning, sharing, and protecting.
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