Lyda Hill
American investor and philanthropist
title: "Lyda Hill" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["businesspeople-from-dallas", "21st-century-american-philanthropists", "living-people", "1942-births", "hollins-university-alumni", "hockaday-school-alumni", "hunt-family", "american-women-philanthropists", "philanthropists-from-texas", "20th-century-american-businesspeople", "20th-century-american-businesswomen", "21st-century-american-businesspeople", "21st-century-american-businesswomen"] description: "American investor and philanthropist" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyda_Hill" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American investor and philanthropist ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| 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_place | Dallas, Texas, US |
| alma_mater | Hollins University |
| occupation | Businesswoman |
| known_for | Developer of Garden of the Gods |
| family | Hunt |
| :: |
| 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_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. She is a member of the Hunt family.
She attended the Hockaday School, an all-girl boarding school in Dallas, from 1952 to 1960. 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.
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. In 1970, she became President of Seven Falls, a tourist attraction near Colorado Springs, Colorado, where her family spent summers.
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.
Hill has donated extensively to a variety of organizations in the Dallas area and in Colorado. She has joined The Giving Pledge, initiated by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, and has pledged to donate her entire wealth to charity, the bulk of it during her lifetime.
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".
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.
In 2022, Hill became the recipient of the Spirit of the Springs Lifetime Achievement Award, given by the City of Colorado Springs.
References
References
- (20 February 2008). "Hunt vs. Hunt: The Fight Inside Dallas' Wealthiest Family". D Magazine.
- (7 May 2008). "Oil in the Family".
- (23 August 1964). "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". The New York Times.
- "Hockaday graduate doubles gift to $20 million to alma mater". The Dallas Morning News.
- "Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipients - Hollins". Hollins.
- Heilman, Wayne. (16 May 2015). "Colorado Springs benefits from philanthropist's desire to get rid of her fortune".
- (2017-05-18). "Hill to receive UCCS College of Business Lifetime Entrepreneurship Award {{!}} The Colorado Springs Business Journal". The Colorado Springs Business Journal.
- Heilman, Wayne. (30 September 2019). "Land Trust honors Lyda Hill, Nancy Lewis with conservation award".
- LeDuc, Daniel. (August 1, 2013). "Setting a High Bar With Her Giving".
- (2018-12-24). "Philanthropist Lyda Hill pulls off a $2.2 million surprise on Dallas nonprofits".
- "About - The Giving Pledge".
- (14 April 2025). "Lyda Hill". The Giving Pledge.
- "Lyda Hill - SMU".
- (2022-09-07). "Local philanthropist awarded Lifetime Achievement Award".
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