ANTHONY CROMWELL HILL

HILL, Anthony Cromwell Treasured journalist, writer, documentarian and videographer. Died suddenly in his home on January 24, 2024, at age 72. Born at Boston Lying-In Hospital (now Brigham and Women's), on September 2, 1951, he grew up in Watertown and Cambridge before graduating from Harvard University in 1973, from which he received a B.A. in American History and Literature. During his years at Harvard, he wrote for The Harvard Crimson, an experience that launched a journalism career that included the Boston Phoenix, The Real Paper, Newsweek and eventually, led to his reporting for and producing segments for The Ten O'Clock News on WGBH. He subsequently produced pieces for WCVB-TV's (Channel 5) evening magazine show, Chronicle. His videography career included signature pieces on Martin Luther King, Jr., The Paradox of Boston and John Silber, 7th president of Boston University, Honoring John Silber, which was thoroughly enjoyed by even the irascible Silber himself. Tony also wrote and directed a feature video film for TV called Return to Glory, as a more authentic historical response to Zwick's award-winning film Glory, which sought to honor the first African American soldiers, 54th Union Regiment, to fight in the Civil War. A master of the bon mot, with a comprehensive knowledge of music and a winning way with words, he possessed an uncanny sensitivity that led him to discern the hidden essence of a person within minutes of saying "hello." This innate talent helped him produce scores of documentary interviews with dignitaries and celebrities that included Henry Kissinger, Elie Wiesel, Leonard Nimoy and Angela Lansbury, to name but a few. Tony, as he was known to his many friends, came from a family of superbly educated African American intellectuals that boasted a history of firsts: his father, Henry Aaron Hill, who died in 1979, was the first African American Ph.D. in Chemistry from MIT, and the first African American President of the American Chemical Society, which still honors him every year by giving a scholarship award in his name. His mother, Adelaide M. Cromwell, a graduate of Smith College, with graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr and Radcliffe, and was also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She co-founded the first African Studies department at Boston University in 1953, and then later, founded the African American Studies Program at Boston University in 1969. She was the first African American faculty member to teach at Smith College, Hunter College and Boston University. Her aunt, Otelia Cromwell, was the first African American graduate of Smith College in 1899 and was the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. from Yale University. Tony's uncle and godfather was Massachusetts Senator Edward W. Brooke, III, the first African American to win the Senate since reconstruction. A resident of Cambridge and, for many years, Martha's Vineyard, Tony served on the boards of the Boston Lyric Opera, the Commonwealth School and was an honorary member of Sundance Institute. He leaves behind his long-time companion, Vita Paladino; her son, Erik; along with her many family members; as well as his precious godchild, Zoe Rose Guastella; and many dear friends and classmates. In 2021, while driving his Tesla home from a dinner, he suffered a cardiac arrest, only to be rescued by a fertility doctor driving behind him in her Tesla. She waved down a Cambridge police officer responding to another call. They broke open the back window to get him out to do CPR. They did this until the paramedics arrived, who shocked him twice back to life and got him to Mt. Auburn Hospital, where they stabilized him in a medically-induced coma for five days. When asked to what he ascribed the five miracles that led to this stunning return to life, and gave him a future chapter of traveling the world with his beloved Vita, he exclaimed with characteristic droll humor, "Good Christian Living!" A Celebration of his Life will be held at the Harvard Club of Boston on Sunday, March 3, at 1:30 PM. It will be followed by a concert performed by the Bach, Beethoven & Brahms Society in Harvard Hall. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Bach, Beethoven & Brahms Society, P.O. 15136, Boston, MA 02215 or at www.BBBSociety.org Condolences may be shared at Bell-O'Dea Funeral Home, at www.bellodeafuneralhome.com