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Dartmouth College Office of Public Affairs • Press Release
Posted 04/22/08 • Media Contact: Genevieve Haas • (603) 646-3661
Richard D. Hill
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Former Chair and CEO of First National Bank of Boston
Chairman Emeritus, Dartmouth College Board of Trustees
Richard D. Hill, a native of Salem, Massachusetts, is a long-time leader in the Boston business community. From 1971 to 1984, he served as the elected Chairman and CEO of First National Bank of Boston, where he began working as a trainee in the 1940s. Hill also served as a director of United Fruit Corp., Ryder System, Boston Edison Co., John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., NYNEX (later Verizon) Corp., Polaroid Corp., and Raytheon Co. He was the Chairman of the Institute of International Finance, President of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, Vice Chairman of the Council on Japan-U.S. Economic Relations and the President of the Association of Reserve City Bankers. In 1985, he was inducted into Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Academy of Distinguished Bostonians. He holds honorary degrees from Boston College, Tufts University, Northeastern University, and Babson College.
Born in 1919, Hill attended public schools in Salem, where he graduated from high school in 1936. He also attended Phillips Exeter Academy, where he graduated in 1937 and went on to attend Dartmouth, graduating in 1941. He received his master's degree from the Tuck School in 1942 and joined the Navy. He served in the Pacific and in Washington as a Bomb Disposal Officer, retiring after World War II with the rank of lieutenant commander.
In 1973, Hill joined Dartmouth's Board of Trustees, where he served for ten years as a trustee and as chairman. He served four years as president of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and was a member of the Eastern Yacht Club and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.
Hill is married to the former Polly Bergstedt with whom he has three children and eight grandsons. Daughter Johanna is a Dartmouth graduate, class of '74, and son Richard Jr. is a Dartmouth graduate, class of '76 and a graduate of Tuck School, class of '80. Of the Hill's grandchildren, one is a Dartmouth graduate and two others are graduating in 2008. Currently, the Hills live in Westwood, Massachusetts, and spend their summers in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Return to 2008 Commencement press release
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