family business

"Mr. Bob," they call him: a nice combination of deference and affection. Both have been amply earned, over the six decades since Robert Hall Jr. established a feed mill that has attained global reach while remaining an unmistakably local, Bluegrass institution. But as befits a man who sleeps in the room where he was born, 94 years ago, the story has roots extending to another era altogether; to a boyhood when Hall--presumably then plain "Master Bob"--saw for himself the difference that good diet could make to livestock. "I was nine...

By John Wollenberg, JD, CPA, and Leonard C. Green, CPA, MBA Editor's Note: Chris McGrath's popular TDN series "Succession" about horse racing-industry businesses passed from one generation to the next sparked this column by Len Green and John Wollenberg. The odds are frightening that only 50% of family businesses that are successful are passed to the second generation. Only 10% are successfully passed on to the third generation. There are many reasons for this and volumes of material have been written on this subject. But few provide you with the...