Harold Emerson Haydon was born in Fort William, Ontario, Canada in 1909, and he died in Chicago in 1994.

He came to Chicago with his family in 1917, married Virginia Elenore Sherwood (1912-1986) in 1937 and was naturalized a U.S. citizen in 1941. Hal was educated primarily in Chicago. First in public school, then to the Universityof Chicago Laboratory High School. From there to the undergraduate program at the University of Chicago where be earned a PhB in 1930 and then an M.A. in Philosophy in 1931. While continuing with post graduate study in aesthetics, he also took art courses at the School of the Art Institute. His first job was as artist-in-residence at Pickering College, Newmarket, Ontario from 1933-34. Returning to Chicago.he focused his career on working and teaching in the Chicago area. First he taught arts and crafts at George Williams College from 1934-44, and then began teaching art at the University of Chicago from 1944-75, becoming Professor Emeritus of Art in 1975. He was also Director of the Midway Studios at the University of Chicago from 1962-75. Hal took over as art critic for the Chicago Sun Times from 1963-1985. During this period he was also teaching mural design, 1975-1981, at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and was an Adjunct Professor of Fine Arts, 1975-1982, at Indiana University, Northwest Campus, in Gary. Primarily a painter, Hal also designed and constructed murals in glass mosaics and ceramic tile, designed stained glass windows, created metal and plastic mobiles, and made polyplane paintings on glass. He began exhibiting paintings in the U.S. and Canada in 1933 and was active in artists organizations starting in 1945. Hal was past president of the Artist League of the Midwest, the Chicago chapter of Artists Equity Association, and was also an honorary life of the Artists Guild of Chicago and the Alumni Association of the school of the Art Institute. Author of "Great Art Treasures in America's Smaller Museums," 1967, and numerous articles, he was also an illustrator..