Halbert Arthur "Hobby" Abshier Jr.

1931 - 2023

Halbert "Hobby" Arthur Abshier Jr.
06/06/1931 - 12/01/2023
Halbert "Hobby" Arthur Abshier, Jr. was born on June 6, 1931, in Victoria, Texas, the son of Halbert Abshier, Sr. and Ruth Henderson. A graveside service will be held Thursday, December 7, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery with Father Kristopher Fuchs officiating. He attended St. Joseph's High School and graduated from Culver Military Academy in Culver, Ind. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Rice University, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University. He served as an enlisted officer in the United States Air Force, serving as assistant to the base commander in Newfoundland during the Korean War. He was a partner then officer and director of Rotan Mosle., Inc. and subsequently founded FSA, Financial Services of Austin, a boutique investment firm in Austin, Texas. He formed an early venture-capital Partnership in Texas with Texas A&M University as a special limited partner. Hobby also negotiated the United States' first alternative investment "Fund of Funds," Bigler-Crossroads, in 1995. He later served as a member on the investment committee for the Crossroads Group, and after continued in that same capacity for Lehman Brothers after Lehman Brothers purchased the Crossroads Group, and then for Neuberger Berman, which survived the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy procedures. Neuberger Berman currently operates the "Fund of Funds" group, with over 15 billion dollars under management, as well as Neuberger Berman LLC., with some 150 billion dollars under management. Hobby taught economics at the University of Maryland and was the first in the world to establish a pharmacy in a grocery store, the Victoria Gibson Center, eventually becoming H.E.B Pharmacy. Hobby is survived by his children, Mary Henderson Abshier, Hobby Benjamin Abshier, and Mike Muhlethaler; by his grandchildren, Maximillian Muhlethaler and Kamryn Muhlethaler; and by his niece, Bess Fry. In lieu of flowers or gifts from family and friends, memorial donations are requested to go to ASPCA.