Newport Beach Businessman, Civic Leader Ned Hill Dies at 97

Edgar R. (Ned) Hill, a Newport Beach businessman and community leader for nearly half a century, died Saturday. He was 97.

Hill was one of the founders of the Ackerman Boat Co., a Newport Beach firm that built boats for the U.S. government during World War II, and served as the first president of Mariners Bank in Newport Beach.

Hill’s late wife, Dora Hill, was the city’s first woman mayor, according to their son, Hank Hill.

Bedridden for the last three months, Hill died at his home on Lido Isle of natural causes.

“He used to always say he never worked a day in his life,” said Hank Hill. “He just really enjoyed life and liked to have fun.”

Born in Chicago in 1893, Hill graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in mechanical engineering.

After serving two years as an Army officer during World War I, Hill moved to Southern California and worked at a Los Angeles building materials company during the 1930s.

He settled in Newport Beach in 1941 and co-founded the Ackerman Boat Co., which built tugboats and picket ships for the military.

The company was one of the first to locate on Lido Peninsula, which at the time was a vacant sand lot.

After World War II, Hill went into banking, helping found Mariners Bank. The one-branch bank on Pacific Coast Highway was later purchased by First Interstate Bank.

In 1959, he was elected president of the Newport Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He was selected as the group’s Man of the Year in 1970.

Hill is survived by two sons, Hank Hill of Newport Beach and Ketchum, Ida., and Tom Hill of Huntington Beach.