Hillman, Ernest

Ernest Hillman Jr. was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1912. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University in 1933 and then enrolled briefly at Harvard Law School before enrolling at the Harvard Business School. He received his MBA in 1935.

Ernest Hillman Jr. helped found the Spoleto Festival USA and served as president of the Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum. He was also a philanthropist who, at the time of his death, was contributing to over seventy-five civic, cultural and artistic organizations as well as serving as the founder and chairman of the Society for Peace in the Middle East. Additionally, Mr. Hillman traveled the world extensively, first as a liaison officer in the Navy and then later, on his own. He captured these recollections in his memoir, Liaison: An Instinctive Way of Life published in 2000 and Heroes: Family and Friends published in 2002. He died at his home in Fairfield, Connecticut in 2002.

From the guide to the Ernest Hillman papers, 1933-1935, (Baker Library, Harvard Business School)