John August Hill III, 85, of East Rock, New Haven, CT passed away on December 6th, 2016 after a three year battle with health issues. He was born on October 31st,1931 in Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York to Swedish born mother Elsa Lufgren and English father, John A. Hill Jr. He was raised and schooled in Millbrook, New York and wintered in Palatka, Florida on the St Johns River, where he attended an one room school house. In 1953, John graduated with a BS degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York as a mechanical engineer. He was a member of the RPI Lacrosse team that won a national championship.
He is survived by his wife of almost 47 years, Barbara Schoonmaker Hill, his daughter, Catherine (Cathy) H. Conlin of Branford, son, John (Jack) A.Hill IV of Old Saybrook and his wife,Jillian, three grandchildren, Brenden, Blake & Miles Conlin of Branford, sister-in-law, Carolyn P. Schoonmaker of Darien and several nieces and nephews. Besides his parents, he was predeceased by his sister, Sonia Bounous of Morganton, North Carolina and brother-in-law, Samuel V. Schoonmaker III of Darien, CT.
John worked for Rotron in Woodstock, New York designing high capacity cooling systems for harsh environments for aerospace application. He moved to New Haven in 1970 to head up Research and Development at Sargent & Company developing high security key systems. Later John designed centrifuges for medical research for Sorvall in Newtown, CT, a company that was then acquired by E.I. DuPont. In 1977, John and family moved to Wilmington, Delaware to DuPont 's main headquarters. Moving back to New Haven in 1981, he founded two start-up companies, Hill Scienti�c and Hill Bio-Science. In retirement, he was the constant companion and assistant to his wife, Barbara Hill in her real estate company, Seabury-Hill Realtors in Wooster Square in New Haven.
Barbara and John were long time former members of the New Haven Lawn Club and The Pine Orchard Yacht and Country Club in Branford where they played tennis, paddle tennis and sailed. John was also an avid reader of history, devouring books in days. He had a passion for �ne cooking and
with encouragement from his family, wrote a 100 page cookbook compiled of family recipes. John and Barbara also enjoyed extensive travel throughout Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.
John was a tall handsome blue eyed gentlemen with a warm, outgoing personality, an upbeat style and a good sense of humor. He enjoyed meeting and talking to people from all walks of life. He was gentle, kind and patient. He loved animals and enjoyed his pets throughout the years; Rica and Daisy, his most recent joys.
There will be a Memorial Service at 11AM at The Church of Redeemer at the corner of Whitney Avenue and Cold Spring Street on Friday, January 13th with a reception at the New Haven Lawn Club to follow. In lieu of
flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to the American Cancer Society or the Alzheimer's Association. To sign the online guest book, please visit hawleylincolnmemorial.com.