James Scott Hill

HILL--James Scott. 83, died peacefully and surrounded by his family on October 23. Mr. Hill is survived, loved, and missed by his four children (Richard, Chessye, Cynthia, and Michael), by their spouses (Frances, Frederick, Michael, and Kathy), and by his 12 grandchildren (James, Nicholas, Chessye, Carolyn, Sam, Andrea, Tyler, Aliza, Olivia, Peter, Jesse, and Gordon James). Raised in Rye, NY, he was a graduate of Deerfield Academy, Williams College, and Columbia Law School. With his beloved late wife, Sally, Jim was a 50 year resident of Princeton, NJ. During WWII, Mr. Hill served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Pacific. Following his later completion of college and law school, he began his legal career as an Associate with the Wall Street firm Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander before joining Johnson & Johnson as an attorney and Corporate Secretary, and also as counsel to the Johnson families. In that capacity, he helped create the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the J. S. Johnson, Sr. Charitable Trusts, which he served for several decades as trustee. While at J&J, Mr. Hill also served as Judge for Princeton Township. Mr. Hill later served in senior legal positions either as General Counsel or Chief Legal Officer with four additional Fortune 100 corporations, including Celanese, the Liggett Group, American Hospital Supply, and CBS. He was an active member of many professional organizations, including the Association of General Counsel and the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. In 1981, at age 57, he returned to the private practice of law, first as of Counsel to the Morristown, NJ firm of Shanley & Fisher and then with Smith, Stratton, Heher, Wise & Brennan in Princeton. Mr. Hill was Warden of Trinity Church in Princeton, and helped create and then served as Chairman of the Board of the Trinity Counseling Service. He was also Trustee of the Princeton Medical Center for over 40 years, and Trustee of the American Boychoir School and the New Jersey State Aquarium. He was Chairman of the Williams College Development Council (and also served two five-year terms as President of Williams' Class of 1945), Founding Chairman of Deerfield Academy's Frank L. and Helen Childs Boyden Society, Chairman of the Lawrenceville School Head Master's Council, and on the Executive Committee of the Friends of the Institute for Advanced Study. With his wife, Mr. Hill created the Sally & Jim Hill Foundation, which has and will continue to support many non-profit organizations both locally and globally. Mr. Hill loved travel (reaching all seven continents), golf, bridge, the Yankees, and time spent with his family and many friends. A memorial service will be held at Trinity Church, 33 Mercer Street, Princeton, at 2pm, on Monday, October 29. In lieu of flowers, donations in Jim's memory can be made to the Trinity Counseling Service, 22 Stockton Street, Princeton, NJ 08540 (609-924-0060). Services are under the direction of the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.