{{Short description|American investor and philanthropist}} {{Infobox person | image = Dallas, Texas, "philanthropreneur" Lyda Hill, the granddaughter of legendary Texas oil pioneer H.L. Hunt. Behind her is a portion of her vast collection of gems, geodes, and other minerals from around LCCN2015630383.tif | caption = Hill in 2014 | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1942}} | birth_place = Dallas, Texas, US | alma_mater = Hollins University | occupation = Businesswoman | known_for = Developer of Garden of the Gods | family = Hunt }} '''Lyda Hill''' (born 1942) is an American investor and philanthropist. She is a member of the Hunt family.
==Early life== Hill was born on 1942, in Dallas, Texas to Albert Galatyn Hill Sr. and Margaret Hunt Hill.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kovach |first1=By Gretel C. |title=Hunt vs. Hunt: The Fight Inside Dallas' Wealthiest Family |url=https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2008/march/hunt-vs-hunt-the-fight-inside-dallas-wealthiest-family/ |access-date=28 February 2024 |work=D Magazine |date=20 February 2008}}</ref> She is a member of the Hunt family.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Oil in the Family |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/06/hunt200806 |access-date=28 February 2024 |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=7 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=David |title=H. L. Hunt Turned $50 Loan Into an Oil Empire; Texan, 75, Commands a Big Family Business Domain; Millionaire Is Also Occupied With Right-Wing Causes; H. L.Hunt Knew How to Turn $50 Loan Into Vast Oil Domain |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/08/23/archives/h-l-hunt-turned-50-loan-into-an-oil-empire-texan-75-commands-a-big.html |access-date=28 February 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=23 August 1964}}</ref>
She attended the Hockaday School, an all-girl boarding school in Dallas, from 1952 to 1960.<ref name="Hockaday">{{cite web|title=Hockaday graduate doubles gift to $20 million to alma mater|url=http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/dallas/headlines/20110406-hockaday-graduate-doubles-gift-to-20-million-to-alma-mater.ece|publisher=The Dallas Morning News|access-date=April 6, 2011}}</ref> She entered Stanford University in 1960, but left to attend Hollins University. She earned a degree in mathematics from Hollins in 1964, and received its Outstanding Alumnae Award in 2009.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.hollins.edu/alumnae/alumnae-news/hollins-alumnae-awards/distinguished-alumnae-award-recipients/|title=Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipients - Hollins|work=Hollins|access-date=2018-11-17|language=en-US}}</ref>
==Career== In 1967, Hill launched Hill World Travel, a travel agency located in Dallas. She sold the company in 1982, by which time she had grown the company into the largest travel agency in the city and one of the largest in the country.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Heilman |first=Wayne |title=Colorado Springs benefits from philanthropist's desire to get rid of her fortune |url=https://gazette.com/business/colorado-springs-benefits-from-philanthropist-s-desire-to-get-rid/article_ed639ae3-c003-5d01-838b-a14b1a5cc58a.html |access-date=2019-12-06 |website=Colorado Springs Gazette |date=16 May 2015 |language=en}}</ref> In 1970, she became President of Seven Falls, a tourist attraction near Colorado Springs, Colorado, where her family spent summers.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}
She developed and constructed the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center in Colorado Springs in 1995. In 2011, after the center had donated $3.5 million to the Garden of the Gods Foundation, Hill gave the Visitor Center to the Foundation.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.csbj.com/2017/05/18/hill-receive-uccs-college-business-lifetime-entrepreneurship-award/|title=Hill to receive UCCS College of Business Lifetime Entrepreneurship Award {{!}} The Colorado Springs Business Journal|date=2017-05-18|work=The Colorado Springs Business Journal|access-date=2018-11-21|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Heilman |first=Wayne |title=Land Trust honors Lyda Hill, Nancy Lewis with conservation award |url=https://gazette.com/business/land-trust-honors-lyda-hill-nancy-lewis-with-conservation-award/article_80e784e6-e09c-11e9-bd16-cb4b67843921.html |access-date=2019-12-06 |website=Colorado Springs Gazette |date=30 September 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
Hill has donated extensively to a variety of organizations in the Dallas area and in Colorado.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=LeDuc |first=Daniel |date=August 1, 2013 |title=Setting a High Bar With Her Giving |url=https://magazine.pewtrusts.org/en/archive/summer-2013/setting-a-high-bar-with-her-giving |access-date=2019-12-06 |website=Pew Charitable Trust Magazine |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-12-24 |title=Philanthropist Lyda Hill pulls off a $2.2 million surprise on Dallas nonprofits |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/business/philanthropy/2018/12/24/philanthropist-lyda-hill-pulls-off-a-2-2-million-surprise-on-dallas-nonprofits/ |access-date=2019-10-24 |website=Dallas News |language=en}}</ref> She has joined The Giving Pledge, initiated by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett,<ref>{{Cite web |title=About - The Giving Pledge |url=https://givingpledge.org/About.aspx |access-date=2018-11-17 |website=Giving Pledge}}</ref> and has pledged to donate her entire wealth to charity, the bulk of it during her lifetime.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Lyda Hill |date=14 April 2025 |url=http://givingpledge.org/#lyda_hill |publisher=The Giving Pledge}}</ref>
== Awards == In 2015, Hill became the 18th recipient of the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award, given by the Southern Methodist University's McGuire Center. The award is given to individuals who "personify the spirit of moral leadership and public virtue".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lyda Hill - SMU |url=https://www.smu.edu/Provost/Ethics/Events/EthicsAward/Hill |access-date=2019-12-06 |website=www.smu.edu}}</ref>
Hill's work with the Garden of the Gods was recognized in 2019 when she received the Land Trust's Stuart P. Dodge Award, honoring a lifetime commitment to conservation.<ref name=":0" />
In 2022, Hill became the recipient of the Spirit of the Springs Lifetime Achievement Award, given by the City of Colorado Springs.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-07 |title=Local philanthropist awarded Lifetime Achievement Award |url=https://www.fox21news.com/news/local-philanthropist-awarded-lifetime-achievement-award/ |access-date=2022-09-08 |website=FOX21 News Colorado |language=en-US}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Lyda}} Category:Businesspeople from Dallas Category:21st-century American philanthropists Category:Living people Category:1942 births Category:Hollins University alumni Category:Hockaday School alumni Category:Hunt family Category:American women philanthropists Category:Philanthropists from Texas Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:20th-century American businesswomen Category:21st-century American businesspeople Category:21st-century American businesswomen