The family of Elsie Hilliard Hillman has announced that she passed away peacefully surrounded by her family Aug. 4. She was 89 years old.
African American Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Doris Carson Williams said she was very sad to hear the news.
“She was our region’s first lady and I used to introduce her that way. She was so giving, and caring and humble, and a pathmaker for many many people in this region,” she said. “She will be missed by many, but she made her mark on the region. She was a woman of courage. She fought a good fight and she made it home free—and it was always Elsie, not Mrs. Hillman, not someone in a lofty tower, just Elsie.”
Hillman was a devoted wife of Henry Hillman for 70 years, mother of Lea Simonds, Audrey Fisher, Henry Hillman, Jr., and Bill Hillman, grandmother of nine, great-grandmother of fourteen, civic and political leader, and philanthropist.
Hillman, a former Republican National Committeewoman and friend to presidents, governors, senators and thousands of people from all walks of life, was a prominent civic leader and perhaps Pittsburgh’s biggest booster for well over half a century.
From an early age, she dedicated herself to serving others through civic organizations and philanthropy, but her greatest joy in life was her family. “Elsie was happiest when surrounded by her family,” said husband Henry Hillman. “Every person she ever met, she made to feel as though they were her best friend and that she would do anything for them, but her family always came first in her heart.”
Actively involved in the community, at the time of her passing, she was chair of the Elsie H. Hillman Foundation, a trustee of the Hillman Family Foundations, co-chair of the UPCI and UPMC CancerCenter Council, and served as a board member of WQED, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Hill House Association and director emeritus of several more organizations and universities.
She was the recipient of eight honorary degrees and countless honors over the course of her life including being named a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania. Elsie was recently recognized by the University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics as the subject of a publication entitled, “Never a Spectator: The Political Life of Elsie Hillman,” on her civic career and groundbreaking work as a political and community leader as well as an advocate for women and minorities in elected office.
Funeral arrangements will be private and for the immediate family only. A community memorial service to celebrate her remarkable life is being planned for Sept. 19 at 10:30 a.m. at
Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh.
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