Pitt Psychology Lecturer John K. Hall II Dies at Age 37 Campus Memorial Service to Be Held April 16

April 11, 2002

PITTSBURGH John K. Hall II, a lecturer in the Department of Psychology in the University of Pittsburgh's Faculty and College of Arts and Sciences, died Tuesday, April 2, at his parents' home in Elizabeth, Pa. He was 37. A memorial service will be held at 5 p.m. April 16 in the Connolly Ballroom of Alumni Hall, 4227 Fifth Ave., in Oakland.

Hall was teaching three courses this semester Introduction to Clinical Psychology, Introduction to Psychology, and Abnormal Psychology to more than 500 Pitt undergraduate students. "He was extraordinarily popular with his students," said Anthony R. Caggiula, chair of Pitt's Department of Psychology. "He used a lot of humor in his teaching, was very well organized and thoroughly prepared, and was very open to his students he really connected with them."

Hall attended Pitt, where he earned the Bachelor of Science degree, magna cum laude, in psychology; the Master of Science degree in psychology; and the Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology. He was a teaching fellow and teaching assistant at Pitt before he left to work briefly at La Salle University as an assistant professor. He returned to Pitt in 1999, where he worked first as a part-time instructor, then as a lecturer. Hall's main area of research was schizophrenia and the siblings of schizophrenic patients.

In a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette online guest book, Pitt students wrote that Hall was a "mentor" with a "sense of humor and sharp intelligence" who, one student noted, "inspired my interest in psychology." Another, one of Hall's first students, wrote, "His inspiration and humor made me want to teach." Hall is survived by his parents, John K. Hall Sr. and LaVerne (Miller) Hall, and his grandmother, Iola Miller.

###

4/11/02/tmw