George R. Hill III

Who was George R. Hill III?

George Richard Hill III was an American chemist and a world authority on coal. In his retirement, Hill was a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1987 to 1992.

Hill was born in Ogden, Utah to George R. Hill, Jr. and Elizabeth McKay. Both his parents were deans of colleges at the Utah State University. Hill's uncle was David O. McKay, ninth president of the LDS Church.

Hill earned a degree in chemistry from Brigham Young University and went on to earn a doctorate at Cornell University in 1946. In 1951, the University of Utah invited Hill to start the school's Department of Fuels Engineering. From 1966 to 1972, Hill also served as the dean of the College of Mines and Mineral Industries at the University of Utah. In 1972, he was appointed the head of the Office of Coal Research in the United States Department of the Interior. In 1977, he returned to the University of Utah as the Envirotech Professor of Chemical Engineering. Hill published over one hundred papers in academic journals and was the recipient of the Henry H. Storch Award from by the American Chemical Society. He also received an honorary doctorate degree from Brigham Young University.