World Travelers With a Passion for Home

To say that Larry Hill and his wife, Terry, are world travelers is an understatement. Larry’s work as a physician specializing in internal medicine enabled them to live on four continents and visit more than 100 countries. But when the time came to retire, the Hills chose to come back to San Francisco—which Larry calls the “best city in the world.” The cultural and philanthropic life of their favorite city is deeply important to the Hills, who recently made a planned gift to the San Francisco Symphony. By becoming members of the Symphony’s Pierre Monteux Society, the Hills join with those who help to sustain the San Francisco Symphony through their estate plans.

Classical music has been a part of Larry’s life for decades, but he didn’t attend a symphony concert until he was in his 20s. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, and although his family owned a piano and many records, he had little exposure to classical music. As a student at UCSF in the early 1960s, he was eligible for discounted tickets, and he recalls thinking that San Francisco Symphony concerts were “a good deal!”

Larry fondly recalls his first concert in February 1964, when he heard Mahler’s First Symphony under the baton of Music Director Josef Krips. To this day, Mahler 1 is still his favorite symphony.

Larry estimates he attended a dozen Symphony concerts over the course of his student years and during his medical residency. After a year in which Larry was Chief Medical Resident at San Francisco General Hospital, the Hills and their two young children settled in Humboldt County, where Larry practiced medicine for 18 years, returning to San Francisco for an occasional concert at Davies Symphony Hall.

In 1991, Larry joined the State Department as a medical diplomat, a position that took him and Terry to live in Mali; Bangladesh; Washington, D.C.; the Philippines; South Africa; and China. Larry recalls attending classical concerts in Beijing and being delighted by the many enthusiastic young people in the audience who were well on their way to becoming classical musicians and lifelong patrons of the arts.

After his retirement in 2006, Larry came full circle to the Symphony. As a member of the Fromm Institute, a lifelong learning program at the University of San Francisco, he was once again eligible for student tickets at Davies Symphony Hall. Larry and Terry are “big believers in the city of San Francisco and in the culture of San Francisco.”

Beginning with that memorable Mahler 1 performance in 1964, the San Francisco Symphony has been part of Larry’s life for decades. To ensure younger generations can also experience the joy of symphonic music in their lives, the Hills opted to make a gift via a charitable gift annuity (CGA). According to Larry, this is a “win-win”: a CGA allowed him and Terry to make a commitment to sustain the future of the Symphony, while also making it possible to take a tax deduction and enjoy modest income during their lifetime. “Terry and I made this decision with the future of the Symphony in mind,” says Larry.

You can make a difference at the San Francisco Symphony with a gift for the future. Learn how by contacting our legacy giving team at 415.503.5404 or legacygiving@sfsymphony.org.