David Hill Obituary

David Gower Hill of Boulder, Colorado passed away on May 26 after battling cancer for several years. He was 83.

David was born January 3, 1935, in Lawrence. His family played an important role in the economic and political development of the state, including the founding of important businesses, from barbed wire to corrugated boxes, supporting the Lawrence National Bank through the Great Depression, and contributing to the arts and education with the Bowersock Opera House and the KU Endowment, America's first for a public university. Two companies still operate today, the Lawrence Paper Company and the Bowersock Mills & Power Company.

David attended the University of Kansas as a Summerfield Scholar and member of Beta Theta Pi. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1956. He served in the Marine Corps for three years after graduation, based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. David studied law at the University of Michigan, where he graduated in 1961. At Michigan he received a Henry M. Bates Memorial Scholarship, the school's highest honor, and the Order of the Coif. He was a member of the Board of Editors of the Law Review. He began practicing law in Boulder in 1961. In 2001 he co-founded the firm Berg Hill Greenleaf and Ruscitti. Dedicated to his clients, he also took pride in mentoring young attorneys.

David was an active member of the community and contributed extensive pro bono legal work. He served five terms as Trustee of the First Presbyterian Church of Boulder, and was a Director of HospiceCare of Boulder and Broomfield Counties, Boulder Rotary, and the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. He lobbied on behalf of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry on sales tax issues, and for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tax Committee on the reform of Subchapter S tax legislation. In 1982 he received the Lawyer Advocate of the Year Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration in 1982 for his activities. He was recognized by the Mountain States Legal Foundation for his contribution to conservative legal causes and honored by the Water Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association in 2016.

David considered family and friends, hunting, the law, and the Marine Corps to be the most important parts of his life. He met his wife Jo Scholes Hill at the University of Kansas. They wed in 1957 during a leave from the Marine Corps. While Jo was a student in the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration he often took an overnight train from North Carolina to Massachusetts while listing New Haven, Connecticut as his destination because it was the maximum distance allowed from Camp Lejeune on a weekend furlough. In addition to Jo he is survived by his daughter, Laurie Hill Niewoehner of Lafayette, CO; his son Christopher, of New York, NY; his grandchildren Megan, Ruthann, and Daniel Niewoehner; and his brothers Stephen and Justin Jr. of Lawrence. A third brother, Alan, died in 2004. He was an avid hunter of upland game and waterfowl and raised fourteen English setters during his lifetime. A passionate skier and the leader of numerous outdoor adventures in the western states, Canada, and Alaska, he logged nearly two million vertical feet heliskiing in British Columbia.