Hall of Fame 6.7.26 - Flipbook - Page 27
Hall of Fame | Sunday, June 7, 2026 27
ROBERT
HILLMAN
During his career, retired employment lawyer Robert Hillman did much to boost the resources and profile of the Enoch Pratt Public Library, and his love of the
Pratt is contagious — so much so that Hillman’s granddaughter Liv celebrated her bat mitzvah at downtown Baltimore’s Pratt library in 2014.
“Both of my children inherited my father’s love of reading, books and the Pratt,” said Pam Loeb, neé Hillman, Hillman’s daughter and mother to Liv. “He’s done
so much for the city, and the Pratt has a special place in his heart.”
Love of the Pratt Library is a family affair. Hillman’s other daughter, Allison Buchalter, married
her husband at the downtown Pratt Library in 2014.
Hillman’s fingerprints are on multiple Baltimore
cultural and economic institutions.
Hillman retired as a partner at the prestigious
law firm Whiteford, Taylor and Preston in 1998.
During his career and since, Hillman has served the
city and its residents as an attorney, brokering deals
between workers and Baltimore’s institutions.
He’s also championed the Enoch Pratt Free Library system over the years.
Hillman served as Pratt board chairman between
1993 and 1997.
At Pratt, Hillman was part of a team that recruited
librarian Carla Hayden as library director in 1993.
Hayden went on to make national history in 2016
when President Barack Obama appointed her as
the Librarian of Congress, marking the first time a
woman and a Black person served in the post.
In a written statement to The Baltimore Sun,
Hayden praised Hillman.
“Working with Robert S. Hillman was both a
privilege and a true partnership grounded in a
shared commitment to the people of Baltimore and
the vital role of its public institutions,” Hayden said.
“[His] curiosity and depth of knowledge clearly inform his perspective and leadership.”
Hillman’s work on behalf of Baltimore could fill
a book: He served as chairman of Operation Sail ’76,
Baltimore’s version of the national bicentennial
celebration, lobbied for the construction of the
original Baltimore Convention Center and later, as
chairman of the original Baltimore Convention Center Authority, helped secure state funds for the facility’s 1996 expansion.
Robert Hillman
Age: 87
Hometown: Englewood, New Jersey
Current residence: Guilford in North Baltimore
Education: Dwight Morrow High School, the
Johns Hopkins University, Harvard Law School
Career highlights: Lobbied for and helped
secure funds for the expansion of the
Baltimore Convention Center,
served two terms as labor commissioner,
and as labor commissioner helped
resolve police and public works strikes.
When he was in private practice, he negotiated
one of the first hospital contracts
with the hospital workers’ union.
Civic and charitable activities:
Founder of Beth Am Synagogue,
chairman of Operation Sail ‘76,
founder of the Pratt Society
Family: Two children, four grandchildren
He also helped keep Baltimore’s religious life vibrant. In the 1970s, after their synagogue moved to
the county, Hillman and his wife helped found what
is now the flourishing Beth Am Synagogue on Eutaw Place.
Hillman also launched the Pratt Society, a donor
group for the Enoch Pratt Free Library.
The group, which now numbers more than 1,000,
has raised millions of dollars for the library and has
brought dozens of well-known authors, including
many Black writers, such as novelist Toni Morrison and Supreme Court Justice and author Sonia
Sotomayor, to speak in Baltimore.
Hillman twice served as Baltimore’s labor com-
missioner and presided over the resolution of several strikes, including a strike by police and another
by public works employees. He also donated his
legal services to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Asked why he was so effective at resolving labor disputes, Hillman is self-effacing.
“I have a lead ass,” he said. “I’m willing to sit and
talk to people for as long as it takes to resolve
things.”
Robert Hillman is the second member of his family to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. His wife,
Sandy, who headed Baltimore’s promotion office
for 13 years until she left for the private sector in
1984, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019.
Robert Hillman has a “remarkable ability to see
the bigger picture while also understanding the dayto-day needs of an institution,” Hayden said in her
statement. “He listens, he builds consensus, and he
leads with both heart and purpose.”
Hillman is also funny, said Mark Joseph, who has
been friends with Hillman for about 60 years. The
two were neighbors in Mount Washington. Hillman later served on the board of directors of affordable housing real estate investor MuniMae in
the 1980s; Joseph was the chairman and CEO.
One evening, teenagers threw clods of dirt at Hillman’s daughter’s window, trying to get her to come
out, Joseph recalled.
Hillman came out, picked up both teens by their
collars and told them, “When I put you down, those
feet better be moving fast and away from here,” Joseph recounted.
“That’s Bob,” Joseph said. “He has a great sense
of humor.”
— Ruben Castaneda
