Three Square food bank founder remembered for dedication to community
Friends and relatives of Three Square food bank founder Eric Hilton remembered the philanthropist Thursday as a larger-than-life man who fought for his community, reveled in inappropriate jokes and loved his family.
Hilton, the 83-year-old youngest son of Hilton Hotels Corp. founder Conrad Hilton and former vice chairman of the company, died in his sleep Saturday at his Las Vegas home after years of health problems and hospitalizations.
In 2013, the former hotelier survived a medical episode after his friend found him slumped over while playing poker at Bellagio, and in the past few years, he was confined to a wheelchair.
Though his movements were slower in the months before his death, nothing could deter his bold personality or knack for making people feel welcome, said nephew Steven Hilton, chairman of the Hilton Foundation.
“He had that gift of connecting when he was around people,” he said. “You felt his spirit, and he made you feel special.”
Beverly Hilton-Neapolitan, one of Eric Hilton’s four children, shared memories of a man who loved to laugh and enjoyed hunting and fishing.
“We really had no idea that my father meant so much to so many people,” she said during a memorial service Thursday at Three Square’s North Las Vegas headquarters. “It really warms my heart to see that.”
A devoted husband to his wife, Bibi Hilton, the Three Square founder also devoted himself to his community in the years since his 1997 retirement from the hotel business.
When Hilton heard the Community Food Bank of Clark County was scheduled to close in 2007, he hurried along his plan to create a new food bank that he hoped one day could end hunger in Southern Nevada.
The plan was spurred by a television report of a nonprofit that fed locals shuttering because of financial problems, Hilton told an audience at the opening of Three Square on Dec. 17, 2007.
“He couldn’t imagine anything worse than a child being hungry,” said Anders Hansen, a program facilitator at Three Square and Hilton’s nephew.
The organization Hilton founded has blossomed, providing more than 40 million pounds of food in a fiscal year to the community through roughly 1,300 partner organizations such as Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada.
The food bank now boasts more than 1,200 volunteers a week, all thanks to the dedication of its staff and Hilton, said Three Square CEO Brian Burton.
“Let us just work toward fulfilling Eric’s dreams of a hunger-free community,” he said.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the number of community partners with which Three Square works.
Contact Pashtana Usufzy at pusufzy@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Follow @pashtana_u on Twitter.
Friends and relatives of Three Square food bank founder Eric Hilton remembered the philanthropist on Thursday as a larger-than-life man who fought for his community, reveled in inappropriate jokes and loved his family.
