If he wasn’t leading a class lecture on some lofty literature, Knox Hill could often be found at Comiskey Park waxing philosophic about a Billy Pierce fastball or playing the piano in his Hyde Park home.
Mr. Hill was a Proust-loving, poker-playing philosophy professor whose love for the arts and humanities crept into nearly every aspect of his life. For more than 40 years he simplified Socrates and other intimidating literature for legions of University of Chicago students.
“He just really loved art, classical music, literature and philosophy,” his daughter Joan Dutton said. “He had a positive outlook on life and lived by an Aristotelian set of ideals.”
Mr. Hill, 94, died of heart failure Thursday, Feb. 3, in a Hyde Park nursing home.
Those who knew Mr. Hill called him a Renaissance man. But Mr. Hill, a professorial-looking man with a penchant for polka-dotted bow ties, would scoff at such suggestions, family members said. He led a moderate life–never too mundane or eccentric–and his interests revolved around arts and philosophy.
“He carried a book with him everywhere he went,” his daughter Susan Burnett said. “He would read things like Orwell to us when were children.”
Mr. Hill’s life was centered on the University of Chicago. He received bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from the school. He met his wife there when he was the school’s choral director and helped shape the school’s humanities programs.
“Knox was a great example for students in that he exemplified the kind of well-rounded, well-informed, responsible humanist we were trying to create,” his colleague Edward Rosenheim said in a statement.
In 1953 Mr. Hill received the Quantrell Teaching Prize for excellence in undergraduate teaching. His teaching style was based on the Socratic method, said his daughter Virginia Carpenter, a former student.
“He tried to really guide students through these difficult subjects and draw ideas out of them,” she said.
Outside the classroom, Mr. Hill would tell stories about Comiskey Park, his beloved Chicago White Sox and the double play tandem of Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox, which he called “true elegance.”
He was an old-fashioned fan who favored pitching duels involving Billy Pierce. At every game he attended, Mr. Hill meticulously marked each pitch on his scorecard.
Once a month, Mr. Hill joined an eclectic group of colleagues and friends for poker games that often lasted all weekend.
Mr. Hill was also a classically trained pianist and played nearly an hour each day, Dutton said.
Mr. Hill grew up in Hyde Park and married Edna Pauline Willis in 1939. He was called to active duty as a member of the ROTC in 1941. He served in England, North Africaand Italy and received a Bronze Star. Mr. Hill left the military as a lieutenant colonel at the end of World War II. His wife died in 1976.
Mr. Hill also is survived by his son, Thomas; three grandchildren; and seven great grandchildren.
A service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Bond Chapel, 1025 E. 58th St., on the University of Chicago campus. A reception will follow at the Quadrangle Club, 1155 E. 57th St.
