Robert Joseph Hill

Robert J. Hill, 92, of Amoskeag Road, Concord, died on June 22, 2000 at Concord Hospital after a period of failing health. Mr. Hill was born in Quincy, MA, the son of the late Joseph and Mary (Noyes) Hill. He grew up in Jamaica Plains and Newton, MA, graduated from Roxbury Latin School and Amherst College. After working briefly in New York City, he returned to Boston to become one of the early members of the investment firm now known as Standish, Ayer and Wood. He lived in Cohasset, MA and was a member of the state guard. In 1953 he came to Concord, NH to be Treasurer of the New Hampshire Savings Bank and in 1962 he became President and Trustee of the bank. He became President of the State Association of Mutual Savings Bank and the President of the National Association of Savings Banks. When he retired from the New Hampshire Savings Bank it was one of the oldest and largest banks in northern New England. Upon his retirement, he returned to work part time for ten years for his former Boston investment firm who opened a Concord, New Hampshire office from which to serve clients in northern New England. During the same period he was appointed by Governor Walter Peterson to be Chairman of the state Water Supply and Pollution Control Commission which he served for eight years during which the Merrimack River was cleaned up among other projects. He lived briefly in Chichester and for twenty-four years in Canterbury where he was on the Planning Board, active in the Canterbury Fair and other town activities and is a past President of the Canterbury Shaker Village Corporation and a present honorary trustee. He moved to Concord in 1984. He was a former member of the Concord Rotary, Past President of the Concord Chamber of Commerce, past Chairman and life member of the New Hampshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club, is a member of the New Hampshire Historical Society and the Mt. Washington Observatory. He was a member of the Society for the Protection of the New Hampshire Forest. He served for many years on the Mt. Washington Commission chaired by former Governor Sherman Adams. Mr. Hill was a member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Concord and a member of the ''Mother Church'' in Boston. He loved the outdoors and enjoyed skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, gardening, as well as water color painting and reading. He and his wife traveled extensively to many parts of the world. He was predeceased by his brother, Kenneth Hill of Providence, RI. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Miriam (Thomas) Hill; and three children, Robert J. Hill, Jr., of Littleton, MA, Virginia Hill Dodge of Marblehead, MA and Gregory W. Hill of Somerville, MA; several nieces and nephews and a grandniece. A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, June 30, 2000 at 2:30 PM at the Society for the Protection of NH Forest in the Conservatory, Portsmouth Street, East Concord. Burial will follow at a later date in Quincy, MA. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Concord Regional Visiting Nurses Association.