Lyda Hill | |
|---|---|
 Lyda Hill in 2014 | |
| Born | September 17, 1942 Dallas, TX |
| Alma mater | Hollins University |
| Occupation | Businesswoman |
| Known for | Developer of Garden of the Gods Granddaughter of H.L. Hunt |
Lyda Hill (born 1942) is an American investor and philanthropist. She is the granddaughter of oil tycoon H.L. Hunt.
Hill was born on September 17, 1942, in Dallas, Texas to father Albert Galatyn Hill Sr. and mother Margaret Hunt Hill. [1] Her maternal grandfather was H.L. Hunt, referred to by Life magazine in 1948 as the "richest man in America." [2] [3]
She attended the Hockaday School, an all-girl boarding school in Dallas, from 1952 to 1960. [4] She entered Stanford University in 1960, but soon left to attend Hollins University, a small liberal arts college for women in Virginia. She earned a degree in mathematics from Hollins in 1964 and received its Outstanding Alumnae Award in 2009. [5]
In 1967, at age 25, Hill launched Hill World Travel, a travel agency located in Dallas. She sold the company in 1982, by which time she had grown the company into the largest travel agency in the city and one of the largest in the country. [6] A few years after starting her business, in 1970, she became President of Seven Falls, a tourist attraction near Colorado Springs, Colorado, where her family spent summers.
She developed and constructed the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center in Colorado Springs in 1995 - designed to be free to the public while generating revenue through its retail operation to assist in maintaining Garden of the Gods Park. In 2011, after the center had donated $3.5 million to the Garden of the Gods Foundation, Hill gave the Visitor Center to the Foundation. [7] [8]
Hill has donated extensively to a variety of organizations in the Dallas area and in Colorado. [9] [10] She has joined The Giving Pledge, initiated by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, [11] and has pledged to donate her entire wealth to charity, the bulk of it during her lifetime. [6] [12]
In 2015, Hill became the 18th recipient of the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award, given by the Southern Methodist University's McGuire Center. The award is given to individuals who "personify the spirit of moral leadership and public virtue." [13]
Hill's work with the Garden of the Gods was recognized in 2019 when she received the Land Trust's Stuart P. Dodge Award, honoring a lifetime commitment to conservation. [8]
In 2022, Hill became the recipient of the Spirit of the Springs Lifetime Achievement Award, given by the City of Colorado Springs. [14]
Lyda Hill Philanthropies is a foundation that has achieved a number of charitable outcomes. The aim includes funding 'transformational advances in science and nature' and working with nonprofit organizations to improve the Texas and Colorado communities. [15]
Lyda Hill Philanthropies also includes the personal philanthropy of Hill. [15]
Haroldson Lafayette Hunt Jr. was an American oil tycoon. By trading poker winnings for oil rights according to legend, but more likely through money he gained from successful speculation in oil leases, he ultimately secured title to much of the East Texas Oil Field, one of the world's largest oil deposits. He acquired rights to East Texas oil lands initially through a $30,000 land purchase from oil speculator Dad Joiner, and founded Hunt Oil in 1936. From it and his other acquisitions, which included diverse interests in publishing, cosmetics, pecan farming, and health food producers, he accrued a fortune that was among the world's largest. In the 1950s, his Facts Forum Foundation supported highly conservative newspaper columns and radio programs, some of which he authored and produced himself, and for which he became known. At his death, he was reputed to have one of the highest net worths of any individual in the world, a fortune estimated between two and three billion dollars.
Swanee Grace Hunt is an American writer, academic, and former diplomat.
Azim Hashim Premji is an Indian businessman and philanthropist, who was the chairman of Wipro Limited. Premji remains a non-executive member of the board and founder chairman. He is informally known as the Czar of the Indian IT Industry. He was responsible for guiding Wipro through four decades of diversification and growth, to finally emerge as one of the global leaders in the software industry. In 2010, he was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He has twice been listed among the 100 most influential people by Time magazine, once in 2004 and more recently in 2011. For years, he has been regularly listed one among The 500 Most Influential Muslims. He also serves as the Chancellor of Azim Premji University, Bangalore. Premji was awarded Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, by the Government of India.
The Hockaday School is an independent, secular, college preparatory day school for girls located in Dallas, Texas, United States. The boarding school was for girls in grades 8–12 and the day school is from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. The Hockaday School is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest.
Thomas Denny Sanford is a South Dakota businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of First Premier Bank and the chairman and chief executive officer of its holding company, United National.
Mary Lou Makepeace is an American politician who served as the mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado from 1997 to 2003. She was the first woman to hold that position.
Ruth Lilly was an American philanthropist, the last surviving great-grandchild of Eli Lilly, founder of the Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceutical firm, and heir to the Lilly family fortune. A lifelong resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, Ruth Lilly is estimated to have given away nearly $800 million of her inheritance during her lifetime, mostly in support of the arts, education, health, and environmental causes in Indianapolis and in Indiana.
Lyda Ann Thomas was an American politician and businesswoman. She was first elected in 2004 as Mayor of Galveston, Texas to succeed Roger Quiroga. She was the third female mayor of Galveston.
MacKenzie Scott is an American novelist and philanthropist. As of January 2024, she has a net worth of US$40.6 billion, owning a 4% stake in Amazon, the company her ex-husband, Jeff Bezos founded. As such, Scott is the third-wealthiest woman in the United States and the 47th-wealthiest individual in the world. Scott was named the world's most powerful woman by Forbes in 2021 and one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2020.
Cary McIlwaine Maguire was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was noted for his involvement with Southern Methodist University, whose ethics center bears his name.
Robert H. Dedman Sr. (1926–2002) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as the founder and past chairman of ClubCorp.
Jeanne Linden Phillips is an American businesswoman and diplomat. She served as United States Ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development from 2001 to 2003, under President George W. Bush.
Alice Bemis Taylor was a philanthropist and was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2010.
Margaret Hunt Hill (1915–2007) was an American heiress and philanthropist.
Caroline Rose Hunt was an American heiress and hotelier who was at one time the wealthiest woman in the United States. She is known for having been the founder of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, which she opened in 1979.
Priscilla Chan is an American philanthropist and a former pediatrician.She and her husband, Mark Zuckerberg, a co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, established the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in December 2015, with a pledge to transfer 99 percent of their Facebook shares, then valued at $45 billion. She attended Harvard University and received her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco.
Sue Anschutz-Rodgers is an American rancher, conservationist, and philanthropist. Owner of the Crystal River Ranch in Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado, she is a strong proponent of conservationism and preservation of the heritage of the American West, and helped implement the legal concept of conservation easements in the state. She is the chair and president of the Anschutz Family Foundation, which funds nonprofits, and also heads the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Fund, which funds projects promoting women's self-sufficiency. She is an active member of many state and national boards. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2017.
Marjorie Powell Allen (1929-1992) was an American philanthropist from Kansas City, Missouri who worked with the Powell Foundation.
Laura Arnold is an American philanthropist and co-founder of Arnold Ventures LLC. In addition to serving as co-chair of Arnold Ventures, Arnold also hosts the podcast “Deep Dive with Laura Arnold” and serves as member of the Board of Directors for the REFORM Alliance, an organization that aims to transform probation and parole systems through legislative change. Prior to her work in philanthropy, she was a mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer and an executive at Cobalt International Energy.
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