Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Obituary

His public service helped create today's Tampa

School desegregation, annexation and crime were challenges this longtime School Board member faced.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published April 13, 2007

CARROLLWOOD - For almost his entire life, Ben Hill Jr. lived outside of Tampa's city limits. But few people have played a more forceful role in shaping today's Tampa.

By profession, Mr. Hill, who died at age 89 on April 5 of natural causes, was the owner of a clothing store. Ben Hill Men's Store stood for many years in the heart of downtown Tampa, on the first floor of the old Tampa Terrace Hotel. It then moved out to N Dale Mabry Highway north of Hillsborough Avenue, where it remained until Mr. Hill retired around 1980.

It was through his legacy of public service that he really made his mark on the Tampa area. He served on the Hillsborough County School Board for 20 years, including the difficult but pivotal years of desegregation. He spearheaded movements to annex several suburban areas into the city, from Palma Ceia to Wellswood and farther north. And with other downtown businessmen, he organized efforts to rid Tampa of the organized crime and gambling that had been so ingrained in the city in its early history.

"We always lived in the country," said his son, Tampa attorney Ben Hill III. "We lived to the north, outside the city limits. But he had a real feeling in his heart for Tampa."

Mr. Hill came to Tampa with his parents when he was 2 years old and settled in Tampa Heights. His father owned one of the city's first car dealerships but lost everything when the banks crashed in 1929.

Mr. Hill graduated from Hillsborough High School and went on to the University of Florida.

"His parents never went to college," Ben Hill III said. "But they stressed the importance of education to him and he never lost sight of that."

He returned to Tampa after college and married Helen Devalle.

They spent the next 66 years together.

The young couple settled first in Wellswood, which was well north of the city limits at the time. Mr. Hill led efforts to bring improved services to the area (including better police and fire protection) by having it annexed to Tampa.

"He was responsible for annexing large parts of the county," his son said. "Not just Wellswood but a lot of the north part of Tampa, and even Palma Ceia."

Meanwhile, his clothing store became a focal point of downtown Tampa. It was located in one of Tampa's first hotels, which was a gathering spot for the city's movers and shakers. Mr. Hill got to know them all.

"I don't know of anyone who went to the Tampa Terrace Hotel who didn't stop in to visit with my father," Ben Hill III said.

With about a half-dozen other downtown businessmen, Mr. Hill took successful strides to change the Tampa's image as a haven for organized crime and gambling. He led the effort to change the City Charter, helped established the Crime Commission and helped organize the Voice Of The Electorate, which recruited and supported new elected representatives for the city, county and state governments.

"There were a lot of politicians who had gotten used to Tampa the way it was, with the crime and the gambling," Ben Hill III said. "It wasn't that they were crooked, they had just gotten used to it and weren't trying to change it. He helped recruit new people and get them elected."

His 20 years on the School Board, from the 1950s to the 1970s, were marked by court-ordered desegregation. Mr. Hill was determined to make the transition as sooth as possible, even though other school officials were determined to fight against integration.

"He always saw past skin color and looked at a person's character," his son said.

By that time, the Hill family had moved to Lutz, where Mr. Hill and his wife lived for more than 40 years. They moved to Carrollwood a few years ago. Ben Hill Jr. Middle School on Ehrlich Road was named in his honor.

"He was first and foremost a family man," Ben Hill III said. "He worked six days a week, but he was always in the dad's club at our schools, and whatever activities we were involved in at various times he was there at the 50-yard line."

Beside his wife and his son Ben, Mr. Hill is survived by his son R. Patrick Hill, daughters Anne H. Stephens and Jane H. McMullian, nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

[Last modified April 12, 2007, 07:48:29]