Naval architect and marine engineer Robert Paul Hill, 69, of Bellingham, Mass., died July 14. Born in Troy, N.Y., in 1952, he was the son of the late Sidney and Frances (Korkemas) Hill, he grew up in Troy, relocated to Massachusetts to pursue his career, then raised his family in Bellingham, where he lived for nearly 50 years.
An accomplished naval architect and marine engineer, Hill was the founder and president of Ocean Tug & Barge Engineering, based in Milford, Mass.
His work focused on the development of the Articulated Tug/Barge (ATB). Many of the workboats he designed continue to ply the waters of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts today. For his lifetime achievement in the industry, he was named a distinguished Fellow of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) in 2015.
"In our industry you think of successful thinkers and there would be Bob, Robert Allan, Bob Hill, Ed Shearer,” said CT Marine’s Corning Townsend, whose name should also be on that list. “He was a leader of a whole new concept — Articulated Tug and Barge.”
