By Rina DePaoli Austin
Beverly Ann Hill, longtime resident of Grove St., owner of Beverly Hill’s Launder Mutt on Grove St. from 1993 to 2004 and community activist in the Grove Street Block Association, died Christmas morning at the Veterans Affairs Hospital on E. 23rd St. from complications from kidney disease. She was 70 years old.
Beverly Hill was born in New York City on April 8, 1937, to Valentine and Pompeii Hill. Shortly after the birth of a younger brother, Robert, the family moved to Youngstown, Ohio, and Beverly was raised there and in New Middletown, Ohio, where she had an extended family of Maxim and Hill relatives in the area. She graduated from Kent State University in Ohio. She was in the R.O.T.C. and after graduation entered the Marine Corps where she achieved the rank of lieutenant. She served two years in the military.
She then moved to Wayne, N.J., in the 1960s and began her career as personnel director/human resources director in several hospital settings. She was employed at Newark Hospital, Hackensack Hospital and Pascack Valley Hospital in administrative capacities.
In the 1970s she moved to Chatham, N.Y., and began to integrate her love of animals with her desire to establish a kennel; at that time her main interest was in raising corgis. However, when Hill moved back to New York City, buying a succession of condominiums and working for large institutions, she was able to realize a dream and open a dog-grooming business in Greenwich Village.
She ran this successful business and involved herself in life in her neighborhood, serving on boards and block associations and earning the affectionate title of “Mayor of Grove St.” She was a strong advocate for the care and protection of dogs and cats and placed more than 300 animals into good homes. Anyone who ever survived Hill’s adoption screening process, or was late for a grooming appointment, knows how rigorous her standards were. For her 70th birthday she was honored with a community party at Greenwich House and a special plaque for all her contributions.
Hill suffered from kidney failure and spent the last five years of her life on dialysis, fighting to maintain her health, spirit and independence.
She is survived by her aunts, Wanda and Virginia Maxim, her cousin William R. Maxim, her brother Robert Hill, two nephews Adam Hill and Noah Hill, and her sister-in-law Rina DePaoli Austin. Burial services will be in Youngstown, Ohio. A memorial service in her honor will be held at the Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow St., from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sat., Jan. 26.
