Perennial Student Collects His Sixth College Degree

Dick Gill was one of those college students who hoped he’d never see another classroom after getting his first four-year degree. Now, he has six degrees of higher education.

Gary Speer of the University of Texas registrar’s office said Gill, who earned his first sheepskin back in 1967, appears to be one of only two students who have received six degrees--including a doctorate--in the school’s 111-year history.

But don’t confuse Gill with the so-called career student who’s unable to decide on a profession and hides out in classrooms semester after semester.

Gill, 50, is a San Antonio businessman who once ran a mortgage company and savings and loan. He also founded two of Texas’ most successful wineries.

“I never had a goal of getting six degrees--never remotely in my mind,” Gill said. “When I got my first degree as a young man, I just wanted out.”

But as he grew older, he found his curiosity about technology and history went much further than what he might learn away from a college campus.

Nonetheless, he said: “I hope I have cured my desire to get any more degrees. I guess to some people it might seem absurd.”

For years, Gill’s degrees had little to do with his business career.

But he recently set out to market pollution control devices in Mexico, allowing him to make practical use of his bachelor’s degrees in math, electrical engineering, physics, Latin American history and of his fluency in Spanish. He received a master’s in anthropology in 1989 and completed his doctorate in anthropology this spring.

“You don’t have to get six degrees, but you ought to continue to learn throughout your life,” Gill said. “You will make money and lose money, but education is something they can never take away from you.”