Same as graff but focussing solely on the hash solution - I also didn't worry about spaces after the split determinants

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my %data = split(/[:;]/, 'font-family: Verdana, Arial, Geneva, san-ser
+if; font-size: .69em; color: #666666');

use Data::Dumper;

print STDERR Dumper(\%data);
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Output

$VAR1 = {
          'font-family' => ' Verdana, Arial, Geneva, san-serif',
          ' color' => ' #666666',
          ' font-size' => ' .69em'
        };
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