Robert Hass Liked To Set Goals, Reach Them

Robert Hass, who founded Western Elevator and built one of Washington's first high-rise condominiums, planned and persevered to make his dreams come true.

Ever since earning his Eagle Scout badge, he wrote lists and kept them, set goals and reached them.

Now his children and grandchildren approach life similarly, whether in real estate or world affairs.

"He was a real individualist and went his own way, but was modest," said his wife of 55 years, Dorothy Hass of Bellevue. "He was a role model . . . listening to the children and maybe making a comment."

Mr. Hass died Friday (July 30) of Parkinson's disease. He was 77.

In his early 50s, he sold his elevator firm and "retired" to a life of travel, golf and tennis. But he continued to use his goal-oriented concentration leavened with a puckish sense of humor.

On a trip to China, he performed magic tricks for children.

Born in Seattle, Mr. Hass graduated from Queen Anne High School in 1940. He earned an engineering degree at the University of Washington in 1944.

He served aboard a Navy aircraft carrier during World War II, then trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University and worked as a radar officer in Norfolk, Va.

In the late 1940s, he returned to Seattle and worked for Otis Elevator. In 1951, he and a co-worker founded Western Elevator.

"They landed a maintenance contract with Frederick & Nelson department store and had their first office in the elevator-housing in the penthouse," said his son Richard Hass of Bellevue.

The company opened branches in a dozen cities, including Honolulu, Fairbanks and Vancouver, B.C.

In the 1960s, Mr. Hass formed Norcross Development, which built a subdivision in Seattle's Blue Ridge community and town houses on the Eastside. Its best-known projects were three high-rise (over six stories) apartment buildings on Capitol Hill.

"The middle one, the Highlander, was the first high-rise condominium building in the state," said his son, a real-estate investment specialist.

Mr. Hass was a founding member of Central Park (Kirkland) Tennis Club and a developer of Avalon Golf Club in Burlington, Skagit County. He also co-founded the Juanita Bay Sailing Club and the Neptune Sailing Club and Sailboats in Kirkland. He was a lifetime member of Seattle Yacht Club.

Also surviving are his children Joanne Rupp, Vashon Island, and Ronald Hass, Bellingham; sisters Afton Crooks, Berkeley, Calif., and Barbara Wallace, Everett; and seven grandchildren.

Services are private. Donations may go to Evergreen Hospice and Health Care Foundation, 12910 Totem Lake Blvd. N.E., Suite 200, Kirkland, WA 98034.