Suburban philanthropist and developer David Hill dies

David K. Hill, a suburban philanthropist and the developer who led Kimball Hill Homes as it grew into one of the largest privately held home building companies in the United States, died early Saturday morning of cancer.

Hill, 67, of Inverness, took the helm of Rolling Meadows-based Kimball Hill Homes from his father in 1969, overseeing the expansion of the company from a builder of suburban starter homes into the Chicago area's ninth-largest home builder, with homes across the country.

A trustee of both Harper College and Roosevelt University, Hill was a longtime civic leader in the suburbs whose contributions ranged from developing new programs at local hospitals to constructing a domestic violence shelter.

"My father demonstrated his concept of community planning when he developed the city of Rolling Meadows, which included making the first land donations for parks and schools ever made across the country," David Hill once said. "Ever since, this concern for traditional community values has been an important part of our corporate vision and has been incorporated into every Kimball Hill Homes community."

Born in Evanston, David Hill graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University and Northwestern University Law School with honors.

He practiced law in Chicago and in Washington, D.C., where he served as a special assistant to the Navy Secretariat for strategic planning and as special counsel on the U.S.S. Pueblo crisis, in which North Koreans hijacked the Naval ship and held its crew hostage for 11 months. He also co-authored a National Strategic Study Memorandum "The Role of Naval Forces in the 1970s."

Hill returned to Chicago in 1969 to assume the presidency of Kimball Hill Homes.

The Hill family's suburban imprint extends far beyond the homes the company constructed. The family provided seed money to start the Kimball Hill Deaf Institute and created an endowment scholarship fund at Harper. Hill also was a generous contributor to the Northwest Community Hospital Foundation, where he helped fund a new prostate cancer therapy program.

A fervent advocate for affordable housing, Hill was a founding board member of the North West Housing Partnership, a Schaumburg-based nonprofit that promotes economically diverse housing. He and his wife Diane were major supporters of the WINGS domestic violence shelter in Palatine, and he used his influence with area companies to secure donations of materials and labor to build a "safe house" for WINGS clients. The Hills also donated $1 million to the home.

"They could have been involved in all those downtown charities," said David Ungurean, who sits on the Northwest Community Hospital Foundation board of trustees, which Diane Hill chairs. "But with all their success, it was the Northwest suburbs they focused on because that was home."

Ungurean stressed that the Hills "always did things for the right reasons."

"For a guy as successful as he was, he was just such an engaging and approachable man," he said of David Hill.

Equally active in business as philanthropy, Hill served on numerous industry-related executive committees, both regionally and nationally. He helped create the Housing Finance Division of the National Association of Home Builders, cofounded the Home Mortgage Access Corp., chaired the Mortgage Roundtable and served on the Federal National Mortgage Association advisory board. He continued his NAHB involvement through active membership in the High Production Builders Council.

Hill's roles on the national level included chairing a mortgage committee for the National Association of Home Builders and helping to create some very good mortgage programs, said Perry Bigelow, founder of Bigelow Homes.

"David Hill was a champion of affordable housing for the working class," Bigelow said. "He was a great builder who committed to helping people less fortunate than himself."

In 2003, Hill was awarded the Hearthouse-Builder National Lifetime Public Service Award, one of the most prestigious philanthropic honors in the building industry.

David and his father, Kimball, were both inducted into the NAHB Housing Hall of Fame, an award program that recognizes individuals who have made significant and lasting national contributions both to the association and to the U.S. housing industry.

Kimball Hill was a lawyer who discovered in the 1950s he could make more money as a home developer. After building a few homes in Des Plaines and Oak Lawn, he came across a deal for more than 500 acres just south of the Arlington Park racetrack in 1953. He bought the land for $750 an acre and wrote the first chapter of the history of Rolling Meadows. Between 1954 and 1956, the company built almost 4,000 starter homes in the community.

Overall, Kimball Hill Homes has been responsible for constructing more than 10,000 homes throughout the Chicago area. It has expanded to nine states and 15 metro areas, including Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Austin, Texas; Tampa, Sarasota-Bradenton, Naples-Marco Island, Fla.

Beset by the economic conditions that have wracked the housing industry in recent years, Kimball Hill Homes began having financial problems.

Last year, David Hill stepped down as CEO but retained his position as chairman of the board. The company then filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

David is survived by his wife, Diane (nee Gustafson); son, David K. Hill III of Los Angeles; sister, Georgia Walter of Elgin; brother, Tracy (Sandra) Hill of Cary; brother-in-law, Brent Gustafson (Joyce Butler) of Arlington Heights; and many nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews. Hill was preceded in death by his parents, Kimball and Elizabeth; in-laws, Milton and Phyllis Gustafson; and first wife, Nancy Marling.

Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Ahlgrim Family Funeral Home, 201 N. Northwest Highway, Palatine. The funeral services will be held on Thursday at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Arlington Heights. In-state viewing will be held from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. with the funeral services following.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are appreciated to the Harper College David K. Hill Memorial Fund, 1200 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine, IL 60067.

• Daily Herald staff writer Emily Krone contributed to this report.

Kimball Hill Homes

• Built about 95 percent of post-World War II Rolling Meadows homes.

• Expanded during housing boom to California, Las Vegas and southwest Florida.

• Planned Settlers Ridge in Sugar Grove as a 2,470-home development; just 96 have sold.

• Built and sold out the 1,000-unit Townes of Willoughby in Algonquin in 1990s, one of the largest subdivisions in the suburbs.

Quote rail:

"David was a wonderful guy, a caring guy. He served our community in so many ways. His family founded our community, and David supported so many community projects." - Kenneth A. Nelson, mayor of Rolling Meadows

"(Hill) has provided a great partnership with the city of Naperville in his business ventures, and he displayed honesty, integrity and dedication to the construction of homes." - George Pradel, mayor of Naperville

"The people who really need to appreciate his accomplishments are the regular people who live in homes that he had something to do with, particularly the underserved and those in a financial crunch. This is a man who had vision, intelligence, energy and didn't only use it to benefit his own success. He used it to benefit all of us that live in this region." - Arlene J. Mulder, mayor of Arlington Heights, who serves on the board of directors of the North West Housing Partnership, which Hill helped found in 1990

"David Hill has been a real-life angel to so many and his inspiration, leadership and friendship made him an icon in the Northwest suburban community. WINGS Safe House would not be here if it were not for David Hill. He leaves a legacy of hope and renewal for all the women and children who walk through our doors and for that we are eternally grateful." - Rita Canning, chairwoman of WINGS and Executive Director Rebecca Darr wrote in a statement

"It wasn't always about business. It was about helping people, and that will be his legacy." - Douglas K. Ray, president and CEO of Daily Herald parent company Paddock Publications

"To lose David is to lose an icon. ... He was the smartest guy I knew in our industry, and he represented Chicago builders very well in Washington." - Buz Hoffman, president of suburban home builder Lakewood Homes

"David Hill was a man of wisdom, grace and integrity whose life was a constant reflection of his generous nature and ethical value system. The Harper College board of trustees was blessed to work with David. We benefited from his vast knowledge, insightful questions, creative suggestions and sense of humor. We will miss him dearly." - Laurie Stone, who served with Hill on the Harper College board of trustees

"David Hill's commitment and affection for Harper was clearly evidenced by his willingness to run for public office on behalf of the College and through his sage advice and philanthropic support. Harper was a great source of pride for David. He believed passionately that higher education should be accessible and affordable to all and devoted his time, energy and resources into making that a reality for the people of the northwest suburbs." - Harper College President Robert Breuder