GM General Motors Company

By James R. Hagerty 

After failing as the owner of Bonanza steakhouses in Detroit in the 1980s, Ronald Hall Sr. bounced back to found and run Bridgewater Interiors LLC, a maker of car seats that was No. 3 among U.S. black-owned companies ranked by Black Enterprise in 2015.

Bridgewater, a joint venture of Johnson Controls Inc. and investors led by Mr. Hall, survived the severe auto sales slump of 2008 and 2009. It now has four U.S. plants and plans to open one in Mexico. The seat maker, whose customers include General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co., had sales of about $2.1 billion last year.

Mr. Hall, who had degrees in math and business, became a role model for African-American entrepreneurs.

He died of a brain tumor on June 1 at age 72.

Ronald E. Hall was born Sept. 4, 1943, in Detroit. His father worked at a Ford factory and later was a credit union officer. His mother was a civil servant.

The young Ronald played center field on his high-school baseball team and attracted attention from scouts. He hoped to play baseball for Western Michigan University when he enrolled there in the early 1960s, but was advised against it because the team played and stayed overnight in some places where black players wouldn't be welcome, said his son, Ron Hall Jr., now CEO of Bridgewater Interiors. That snub "stayed with him," his son said, adding that his father remained "an eternal optimist."

He earned a math degree at Western Michigan and a master's in business administration at Wayne State University. He then worked as a computer systems analyst at Ford. As a sideline, he coached basketball at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Mich.

In 1980, he bought a Bonanza steakhouse franchise in Dearborn, just outside of Detroit. His 11-year-old son, Ron Jr., was baffled: Why would his father forsake a blue-chip employer like Ford and the high-tech world of computers to run a chain restaurant?

"He said he wanted to be his own boss and someday I would understand," said Ron Jr., who soon got experience mopping floors at Bonanza before graduating from West Point and getting a law degree at the University of Michigan.

The elder Mr. Hall opened a second Bonanza steakhouse in Detroit's central west side.

One of his early hires at Bonanza was Hoy Monk, who had played basketball for Coach Hall at Schoolcraft. Mr. Monk started as a dishwasher but told Mr. Hall, "I can see myself running this place." Within six months, he was promoted to manager. When he first started at Bonanza, Mr. Monk didn't have a car, so Mr. Hall co-signed a loan allowing him to buy one.

Dwayne Richardson, a friend of Mr. Monk, recalls meeting Mr. Hall on one of his first days working at Bonanza. "I was burning steaks left and right," Mr. Richardson recalled. "He just shook his head and walked away." Eventually, though, Mr. Richardson's skills improved.

Mr. Hall -- 6-foot-1, well-dressed, carrying a briefcase -- became Mr. Richardson's role model. "This is the guy I want to be," Mr. Richardson recalled thinking. He now works as a senior systems analyst at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Crime was a problem at Bonanza in Detroit. The restaurant was robbed several times. A bigger problem was that Americans began eating less red meat. Mr. Hall closed the restaurants and declared bankruptcy in the late 1980s.

With four sons to feed, he found work as a vice president at New Detroit, a nonprofit that supports minority-owned businesses. In 1993, he became chief executive of the Michigan Minority Business Development Council. There he met board members from big companies including General Motors and Johnson Controls.

GM and other auto makers were trying to do more business with minority-owned businesses. That motivated Johnson Controls, which makes car seats and other products, to seek partners. Mr. Hall was invited to form a joint venture with Johnson Controls.

Initially, Mr. Hall was reluctant, his son said, because he enjoyed running the business development council and was doing well there. Setting up Bridgewater meant taking big financial risks. He had to mortgage his home to raise money for his share of the equity. But he saw it as an obligation and wanted to show it was possible to make top-quality components with an inner-city workforce, the younger Mr. Hall said.

The Bridgewater joint venture, set up in 1998, has turned into a "crown jewel," said Byron Foster, an executive vice president at Johnson Controls and board member at Bridgewater. Mr. Hall "really built something bigger than himself that's sustainable for the long term."

Mr. Hall was calm and good at communicating with workers, Mr. Foster said. The CEO also loved talking about baseball. Almost every board meeting included a brief discussion "about the state of the Tigers," Mr. Foster said.

Alex Parrish, his lawyer, recalled Mr. Hall's way of urging people not to overcomplicate things: "Don't make easy hard."

"He was a great listener," Mr. Parrish said. "He would take the time to understand what was really important to the people he was dealing with."

In 2007, Mr. Hall had surgery for a tumor and lost the ability to open his right eye. "I don't have any pity parties over it," he said in an interview. "It could have been so much worse."

Write to James R. Hagerty at bob.hagerty@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 10, 2016 13:13 ET (17:13 GMT)

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