Robert H. Herschede, businessman

Ran family clock company

Cincinnati.Com Thursday, August 9, 2007

BY REBECCA GOODMAN | RGOODMAN@ENQUIRER.COM

Robert H. Herschede, the last family president of the Herschede Hall Clock Co. and Rookwood Pottery, died July 23 at Carmel Hills Care Center in Monterey, Calif. He was 89.

Incorporated in 1902, the Herschede Hall Clock Co. manufactured award-winning clock movements and cases that were sold across the country.

The clocks were in demand during World War I because the American market was cut off from Europe. Herschede also made surgical and surveying equipment and compasses for the military.

After founder Frank Herschede died in 1922, his son Walter became president of the company. He experimented with the production of radios and began manufacturing inexpensive electric clocks. Later, the company also produced parking meters.

Robert Henry Herschede was born in Cincinnati on March 10, 1918, to Walter and his wife, Ruth. He joined the National Guard while studying at Xavier University. He later became a pilot with the Army Air Corps during World War II.

During the 1950s, the Herschede Hall Clock Co. experienced financial troubles and moved its operation to Starkville, Miss., in 1960. Mr. Herschede, who had been working with his father and brothers since the 1930s, became president in 1962 after his brother Walter J. Herschede Jr. resigned.

In 1959, Herschede Hall Clock bought the famous Rookwood Pottery Co., which had filed for bankruptcy in 1941. The pottery production was moved to Starkville along with Herschede and its other subsidiary businesses.

Financial problems persisted and Mr. Herschede sold the company in 1967, staying on as vice president and general manager. The Herschede Hall Clock Co. merged with Howard Furniture and Briarwood Lamps to form Arnold Industries in 1972.

In 1978, Mr. Herschede moved to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where he was under contract with the government to restore the tower clock overlooking Charlotte Amalie Harbor.

In 1981, he moved to the Monterey Peninsula in California, where he was president of the Monterey Peninsula Council of the Navy League of the United States. He was a volunteer for the auxiliary of the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula and served on the executive board of the Blind and Visually Impaired center.

Survivors include his wife, Lois Joan Hughes; three daughters, Laura Roby, Mary Anne Dudash and Paula Herschede, all of Santa Barbara, Calif.; a grandson; and a great-granddaughter.

Services have been held.