Edward T. Hall, the son of a farmer, was born in Texas in 1902. After his father's death, his mother moved to Denver, Colorado, where he attended public schools. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Denver in 1923
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While attending college, he became involved with the Methodist Church and was active in campus life. After graduation he taught English for two years in the Denver public schools before entering graduate school at the University of Denver. During this time he began what would become a lifelong study of human behavior and how people communicate with each other in different situations.
He received his Ph.D. in sociology from Ohio State University in 1938 and continued to conduct research on how people communicate in different situations for another four years after completing his doctoral work. From 1938 to 1947 Hall held positions at the schools of education at Stanford University and the University of Iowa before accepting an appointment as Professor of Sociology at Ohio State University.
At Ohio State Hall was offered the title of Distinguished Professor but refused it because he felt that honorary titles were not appropriate for someone who had no professional training or experience in sociology. He returned to Denver after leaving Ohio State and worked at the university until his retirement in 1972, when he moved to Virginia Beach. He died on October 31, 1993 at age ninety-one.