MATTAPOISETT — Thomas Place Hiller, a lifelong resident of Mattapoisett and Fairhaven, died suddenly October 27, 2008, at the age of 63.
He was the loving father of Samuel Woodcock Cortes of West Chester, Pennsylvania, Seth Thomas Hiller and Abigail Elizabeth Hiller, both of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts; beloved brother of Jane Hiller Farran of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Emerson H. Hiller Jr., of Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
A graduate of Fairhaven High School and Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, Mr. Hiller taught high school English in Mattapoisett, Whitman and Fairhaven. He later provided strategic consulting and capital fund raising services to many non-profit organizations throughout New England, including YMCA's, faith-based, health care, educational, environmental and other public service organizations, ultimately creating the former Hiller Associates Inc., of Mattapoisett which led over 100 successful capital campaigns for regional non-profit organizations.
As an avid sailor, he could be seen many weekends on Buzzards Bay with his children skippering his sloop Rattler moored in Mattapoisett Harbor.
His memorial service will take place on Saturday, November 1, 2008, at 11 A.M., in the First Congregational Church in Fairhaven. Memorial remembrances may be made in his name to the "Hiller Family Nautical Collection," c/o Mattapoisett Free Public Library, 7 Barstow St., P.O. Box 475, Mattapoisett, Ma. 02739. Burial in Cushing Cemetery is private.