Ken Hill was born in Hempstead, New York. His father Howard L. Hill was '33 S. He prepared at Loomis. A Psychology Honors major, he was a ranking scholar and held a scholarship. Ken was in Pierson, where he was on the Sun board and played soccer and touch football. He was a member of the Political Union, Psychology Club (president his senior year), publication director of the Banner and a Yale aide for 3 years.

After graduation, Ken obtained his doctoral degree in Psychology at the University of Minnesota in 1965. He also worked and studied in that university's Institute of Child Development.

He joined the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1965 and rose to the professorship of educational psychology, a position he held at the time of his death.

Ken was a member of the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association, the Society for Research in Child Development, the National Council on Measurement in Education and the Merrill-Palmer Society. His research interests were in testing anxiety and educational measurement and facilitating minority student motivation, study skills and math performance.

Ken married Judith Spear June 13, 1964, in Canton, Massachusetts. She survived him. Also surviving are his father of Bethel, Connecticut; a son, Charles Hill of Alton; a daughter, Julia Hill of Bloomington, Indiana; and two brothers, John Hill of Ormond, Florida, and Howard Hill, Jr. of Purdys, New York. He was preceded in death by his mother.

Ken's widow Judith wrote that "Ken fought diabetes for 42 years but his enthusiasm for his work, his family and life itself never waned…" &qot;His interest in Yale was ever present as was his enthusiasm for the football team, whose scores he sought every fall Saturday", she reported.

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