Lyle S. Hallman

Lyle Shantz Hallman was committed to the betterment of his community.

Hallman was a land developer, home and apartment builder and philanthropist, who was awarded the Canada 125 Medal, an Honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Waterloo, and he was invested in the Order of Canada.

Hallman was born in Preston in 1922. After serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, he started his construction business by excavating a basement with a team of horses and a scraper. Hallman Construction Ltd., founded in 1945, grew into the Hallman Group of Companies, builder, owner and manager of seventy-five apartment buildings, comprising 3,500 rental units as well as a major land developer.

Hallman made major lead gifts to numerous fund-raising campaigns throughout the Waterloo Region, including: the Lyle S. Hallman Swimming Pool; endowing the Lyle S. Hallman Fund of the Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation; gifts to the Grand River Hospital Foundation including funding the first MRI in the Waterloo Region; and also to the University of Waterloo for the Lyle S. Hallman Institute for Health Promotion and Wilfrid Laurier University for the Lyle S. Hallman “Chair” in Child and Family Development.

He was a founder of the local Home Builders Association in 1946. He was Treasurer of the National Home Builders Association from 1980 to 1985, as well as National Chair of Housing and Urban Development Association of Canada, Multi-Family Council. His expertise and knowledge were in constant demand by local elected officials, regional committees and provincial organizations, seeking information on property management and apartment procedure.

Photograph courtesy of Forde Studio, Kitchener