Hill, George Watts, 1926-2002

George Watts Hill Jr., North Carolina businessman, state legislator, and advocate of higher education, was the son of George Watts Hill Sr. and the grandson of John Sprunt Hill, both prominent Durham, N.C., bankers and businessmen. Known as Watts, he graduated from the University of North Carolina; worked in banking, first in New York and then with his father as vice-president of the Central Carolina Bank and Trust Company in Durham; represented Durham in the North Carolina General Assembly, 1957-1961; was president, 1961-1967, and then chair of the board until 1973 of the Home Security Life Insurance Company; and served as chair of the North Carolina Board of Higher Education, 1965-1969. He supported the creation of the University of North Carolina System in 1972 and served on its board of governors, 1972-1973. He also was a consultant on educational and other issues with a number of firms including his own and ICF Consulting.

George Watts Hill Jr. (usually referred to as Watts Hill Jr.) was born on 3 August 1926, in Baltimore, Md. Hill was the son of George Watts Hill Sr. and the grandson of John Sprunt Hill, both prominent Durham bankers and businessmen. Watts Hill Jr. grew up in Durham, N.C., but went north for prep school, attending the Millbrook School in Millbrook, N.Y. He enrolled in Princeton University from 1944 to 1946. Before and during the time he attended Princeton, he also participated in a Navy flight program. Hill married Mary Lamberton in 1946, and they later had two children, George Watts Hill III and Deborah Hill. In 1947, Hill received an A.B. degree in economics from the University of North Carolina. After graduation, the Hills lived in Geneva, Switzerland, where Watts Hill Jr. attended the Institute of Higher International Studies. In 1948, they returned to the United States to live in New York City.

Hill worked at the Bankers Trust Company until 1950, when he joined his father at the Central Carolina Bank and Trust Company in Durham, N.C. Watts Hill Jr. served as vice-president until 1958. During this time, he became interested in local politics, and successfully ran for a seat on the Durham City Council in 1955. Hill then campaigned to represent Durham as a legislator in the North Carolina General Assembly and won two two-year terms beginning in 1957. As a legislator, Hill was especially concerned with bolstering public education. He decided not to run for a third term in 1961, citing a need to attend to another family business, the Home Security Life Insurance Company. There Hill served as president from 1961 to 1967, and then as chair of the board until 1973.

Although Hill left public office, he continued to stay active in public affairs, especially those related to education. In the early to mid-1960s, Hill served on two committees related to the desegregation of Durham. The Durham Interim Committee was appointed by Mayor R. W. Grabarak and formed on 22 May 1963. During its two-month existence, the committee made recommendations to the city and business owners on how to handle the desegregation process. Hill served as chair of this integrated group. The Interim Committee disbanded on 12 July 1963. A more permanent group, the Durham Committee on Community Relations (also appointed by Mayor Grabarak), was formed on 6 April 1964, and had much the same mission as the Durham Interim Committee. In addition to its advisory role, the committee also appears to have investigated possible violations of civil rights and desegregation law. Watts Hill Jr. served as chair from the time of the group's formation until December 1966, although it appears the group was mostly dormant during 1966.

In 1965, Hill was appointed to the North Carolina State Board of Higher Education by Governor Dan Moore and served as chair until 1969. During this time, the state's universities were embroiled in a conflict with the state legislature over what was known as the Speaker Ban law that prohibited certain people, chiefly those with suspected communist tendencies, from speaking at state-funded colleges and universities. Hill worked to resolve the conflict over institutional authority. He later supported the 1972 consolidation of North Carolina state universities and colleges into the University of North Carolina System. Under this new system, all sixteen campuses were overseen by a single University of North Carolina Board of Governors. Hill served on this Board, 1972-1973.

In 1973, Hill left the family businesses and started his own consulting firm, Watts Hill Jr. and Associates. He also worked with ICF Consulting. Hill often consulted on issues regarding education, and again became involved in state university issues during the Consent Decree litigation of the 1970s and 1980s. The conflict between the University of North Carolina System and the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) stemmed from disagreements about how state institutions should desegregate their campuses. The debate continued for years, and, in 1980, Hill testified during administrative proceedings initiated by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to terminate federal funding of North Carolina universities. Hill testified that the State Board of Education had encouraged the federal government to require a plan for desegregation and criticized the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. His testimony created some controversy in North Carolina and was one of several issues on which Hill publicly disagreed with his more conservative father, who served on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors for years.

The controversy, however, did not diminish Hill's interest in public education, and he remained an advocate for the state universities until his death. He served on the board of visitors at both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina-Asheville. He also continued his family's tradition of philanthropy to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Watts Hill Jr. died on 15 March 2002 at his home in Chapel Hill.