Devoted Husband, Loving Dad, Loyal Friend,

Robert A. Haley, a lifelong resident and business leader of the Philadelphia area, passed away on December 23, 2021 at the age of 94. He died of natural causes at Dunwoody Village, where he had lived for a decade.

Mr. Haley spent most of his life managing and expanding the Finnaren & Haley Paint Company, in partnership with his older brother, Daniel J. Haley, Jr.

Robert and Dan represented the second generation to head the firm, which had been founded in 1913 by their father, Daniel J. Haley. The third generation managed the firm until selling most of it to Benjamin Moore in 2007. A successor company, Haley Paints, is a major provider of coatings to the backyard shed building industry and is headed by Mr. Haley's son, Robert A. Haley Jr.

Mr. Haley graduated from Waldron Academy, St. Joseph's Prep and Villanova University. He entered the Merchant Marine Academy in 1945 and received a commission as 3 ^rd Officer M.M. and Ensign U.S.N.R. on May 31, 1947.

In 1947, Mr. Haley returned to Finnaren & Haley, where he'd worked as a stock boy while growing up. Mr. Haley and his brother took over management of Finnaren & Haley after their father died in 1958.

With Dan serving as chairman and president and Bob as executive vice president and general manager, the pair led the company's expansion from five to 35 retail stores in Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware. They also developed industrial and marine coatings divisions for the company.

Mr. Haley served as president of the Color Guild, an organization dedicated to the marketing, promotion and selling of paint products that today comprises more than 55 regional paint manufacturers and eight licensees in 16 countries. He also served as chairman of the board of the Columbia Paint Company of Spokane, WA.

In addition to his work in paint manufacturing and sales, Mr. Haley served as chairman of the board of trustees of St. Mary's Hospital, then in Newtown and Frankford, and as chairman of the board of trustees of St. Joe's Prep. He served for two years on a committee that evolved into the Catholic Charities Appeal, a Philadelphia non-profit operated by the Catholic Foundation of Greater Philadelphia.

Mr. Haley received the Ignatian Award, the highest honor presented to alumni of St. Joseph's Preparatory School.

For 68 years, Mr. Haley was married to Katherine Patricia (Carville) Haley, whom he'd met in high school at a party in his home in the Penn Wynne section of Wynnewood. She hailed from Merion, PA, and later graduated from Chestnut Hill College. The couple raised five children while maintaining homes in Wynnewood and Avalon, N.J. and later in Bryn Mawr and Stuart, FL.

Mr. Haley was a member of the Philadelphia Country Club and Mariner Sands Country Club in Stuart, FL. In retirement, he took great pleasure in volunteering for Meals on Wheels in the Philadelphia area and in Mariner Sands.

He was a loving husband, a devoted father and to his many friends, an enthusiastic, loyal and fun-loving organizer of good times.

Mr. Haley is survived by daughters Kathleen (Richard Churchill), Patricia Hersh (Jeff), Mary Clare Johnson (Scott) and Susan Cavanaugh (Mark) and son Robert A. Haley Jr. as well as 13 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his wife, Katherine Patricia (2019), his brother, Daniel J. Haley (2013), and sister, Rita McManus (2020).

A celebration of Mr. Haley's life will take place on Friday March 4, 2022 with a 9 AM Visitation followed by a 10 AM Funeral Mass at St. Anastasia Church, 3301 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square PA.  Interment will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Meals On Wheels or to Independence Mission Schools.