E.V. Hill, 69; Longtime L.A. Pastor Was National Civil Rights, Religious Leader

The Rev. E.V. Hill, the pastor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles who rose from poverty in Texas to become a confidant of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and a power within one of the nation's largest African American denominations, has died. He was 69.

Hill died late Monday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was admitted Feb. 8 with what an aide said was an aggressive form of pneumonia complicated by other medical conditions.

In the last eight months, Hill had to preach sitting down because of a condition that weakened his legs. He also suffered from diabetes, his son, the Rev. E.V. Hill II, pastor of Calvary Temple Pentecostal Holiness Church in North Hollywood, said Tuesday.

Known as a preacher whose sermons could thunder with righteousness even as he could listen with a pastor's heart, Hill would have celebrated his 42nd anniversary as pastor of Mt. Zion this month.

Bishop Charles E. Blake, pastor of West Angeles Cathedral in Los Angeles and a leader in another predominantly African American denomination, the Church of God in Christ, called Hill "one of the most significant personalities in the clergy over the past 30 or 40 years."

"He was a great preacher, a tremendous preacher," Blake said, "and a common man's theologian."

Blake said Hill would be remembered in Los Angeles "for his compassion for the poor and his commitment to the community."

Under Hill's leadership, his congregation became a center of political and social activism in Los Angeles that, like the better-known First African Methodist Episcopal Church led by the Rev. Cecil M. "Chip" Murray, drew presidents and preachers alike.

On one occasion, evangelist Billy Graham showed up unannounced so he could hear Hill preach. It was Hill's church that President George H.W. Bush visited in the days immediately after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Like other activist black leaders, Hill was an early confidant of King. In the years that followed, he fought for government programs to bring housing and economic development to the needy in the community he served. He started a program for the hungry, called the "Lord's Kitchen." His church also built senior citizen housing, started a credit union and provided clothing for the poor.