Evan Hill

Evan Hill (January 20, 1919 – April 10, 2010) was an American journalist and professor at the University of Connecticut (UConn), where he chaired the journalism department from 1965 to 1984. A stern but beloved teacher, Hill exerted major influence on Connecticut journalism. He mentored many editors and reporters in the region and served as a director and trustee of The Day. He authored eight books and 160 magazine articles.

Early life Hill was born in Philadelphia on January 20, 1919, to Louis and Marie (Schmeltz) Hill. He had two sisters. He graduated from high school in Bellingham, Washington, where he worked in a drugstore and a cannery while reporting for the local KVOS television station in 1938 and 1939. Moving to Juneau, Alaska, he worked as a hotel janitor and Daily Alaska Empire reporter and enlisted in the Alaska National Guard in 1941. He limped for the rest of his life. Hill was discharged with the rank of captain in 1947.

Journalism career While recuperating, Hill sold his first magazine article, about wounded soldiers, to Liberty. He attended Stanford University on the G.I. Bill, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948. He moved to Newport, New Hampshire, to serve as editor for the Argus Champion, a semi-weekly newspaper, in 1948 and 1949. He earned his Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University in 1950.

Hill stayed at Boston University teaching journalism until 1956, when he joined the journalism faculty at Ohio State University. A year later he returned to Newport, where he spent seven years as a freelance news reporter and nonfiction magazine writer. His work was published in the Saturday Evening Post, Reader's Digest, Redbook, New York Times Magazine, Saturday Review, Yankee, Coronet, and other periodicals. He was a ghostwriter for prominent pollster George Gallup (The Secrets of Long Life, 1960) and several US government officials. Hill accepted the position, moved to Storrs, and chaired the department until he retired in 1984. He was a member of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.

Personal life Hill met his future wife, Priscilla Fiske (1918–2001), of Natick, Massachusetts, at an Alaska dance. She was a US Coast Guard photographer. The couple married on September 21, 1946.