SARASOTA -- Allan C. Hill's life, like the circus
he produced, was filled with fanfare.
The former owner of Allan C. Hill's Great American Circus, who
died Monday at age 58, helped stage elaborate circus parades
through downtown Sarasota for several years to celebrate the
city's centennial and its circus heritage.
In 1987, he took part in a "Bid for Bachelors" auction
for the American Cancer Society. Two women bid $23,000 for a date
with one of Sarasota's most eligible bachelors. The unusual bid
caught the attention of The Associated Press. Cosmopolitan
profiled Hill as its "Bachelor of the Month." That led
to a 1991 TV appearance on "To Tell the Truth."
Hill helped raise more than $100,000 for an unsuccessful effort to
spare the historic John Ringling Towers from demolition in 1998.
At 45, Hill became the youngest person honored on the Circus Ring
of Fame on St. Armand's Circle.
A year earlier, he received the Ringling Museum's Members
Council's Circus Celebrity Award.
Born Sept. 23, 1948, in Norfolk, Va., Hill worked in circuses as a
youth hawking popcorn and cotton candy. He quit school to work
full time in the circus, but later enlisted in the Army. He served
in Vietnam and was awarded a Bronze Star and Army Commendation
Medal.
He returned to his circus roots in 1972. In 1983, Hill's share of
the show's profits was sufficient for him to buy the circus and
relaunch it under his name. Hill sold the circus about a decade
ago.
He continued to organize fundraisers, promoted a children's
theatrical group and supported the Sarasota Boxing Club.
"He always believed in giving to the community and to the
needy," said his daughter, Heather Hill of Las Vegas.
Hill, who gave up smoking more than 20 years ago, learned a month
ago he had advanced lung cancer.
Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at Toale Brothers
Funeral Home Colonial Chapel in Sarasota. Services will be 9:30
a.m. Sept. 19 at St. Martha's Catholic Church in Sarasota,
followed by inurnment at Sarasota Memorial Park.
In addition to his daughter and her fiancé, Mike Mivshek of
Sarasota, Hill is survived by his mother, Dorothy, of Sarasota; a
sister, Theresa Hill of Sarasota; and three brothers, Bill of
Indianapolis, Ted of Harrisburg, Pa., and Tony of Tampa.
Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society,
2801 Fruitville Road, Suite 250, Sarasota, FL 34237, or TideWell
Hospice and Palliative Care, 5955 Rand Blvd., Sarasota FL 34238.
As Seen In The 9/12/07 issue
of The Sarasota Herald Tribune
