Dr. Lucius Tuttle Hill Jr., known to his family and friends as Luke, died suddenly of an aneurysm in the early morning hours of July 22, 2025, at Riverwoods Exeter. He was 93 years old. Luke was loved and respected by his family, friends, and community. He was known to all to be warm, friendly, positive, and honest.
Luke was born on March 23, 1932, in Boston to Helen Isham Hill and Lucius Tuttle Hill of Brookline, Massachusetts. He attended the Dexter School, Milton Academy, Yale College, and McGill University School of Medicine, where he graduated second in his class. He served his internship and residency in general surgery at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Luke married Nancy Moore Hill in 1956, and they enjoyed 57 years of loving marriage, raising four children, before Nancy's death in 2013.
In 1965, Luke joined the Exeter Clinic, a multispecialty medical practice in Exeter, New Hampshire. He practiced general surgery and surgery of the breast at Exeter Hospital for the next 33 years and also served as chief of surgery. In addition, Luke was the medical director of Seacoast Hospice and the New Hampshire state chairman of the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer Liaison Program. He belonged to the New England Surgical Society, the Academy of Hospice Physicians, and the New England Cancer Society. Luke’s many community involvements around Exeter included serving as one of the original trustees of Riverwoods Exeter, singing bass in the Rockingham Choral Society, and volunteering as the director of Exeter Youth Hockey.
Luke was an avid sailor. He raced his Herreshoff 12-1/2 in and around Pocasset, Massachusetts, where he and Nancy had built a summer home. He also spent many happy hours playing tennis, singing, and listening to the opera. In his retirement years, Luke rediscovered golf and bridge. He played both as often as his busy social schedule at Riverwoods would allow. Luke was also, of course, a lifelong fan of the Boston Red Sox.
Luke leaves behind his children, Lucius Tuttle Hill III and wife Wendy, Elizabeth Thayer Hill and husband David Hainsworth, Peter Isham Hill, and Susannah Hill and husband Philip Pattarelli; and his grandchildren Harry Bartlett Hill, Charlie Isham Hill, Lydia Bross Hill, Nicholas Daniels Hill, and Andrew Moore Pattarelli. He also leaves behind his countless friends.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, September 13, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter at 12 Elm Street, Exeter, New Hampshire. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Luke's name to the Environmental Defense Fund.
—Submitted by the family.
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