born Dec. 25, 1887, San Antonio, N.M., U.S.
died Jan. 3, 1979, Santa Monica, Calif.
U.S. businessman, founder of one of the world's largest hotel organizations.
As a boy he helped his father turn the family's adobe house into an inn for traveling salesmen. After his father's death in 1918 he bought several hotels in Texas, and by 1939 he was building, leasing, and buying hotels in California, New York, Illinois, and elsewhere. In 1946 the Hilton Hotels Corp. was organized; in 1948, as the business expanded overseas, the company was renamed Hilton International Co. Later diversification included a credit card company and a car-rental firm. His son Barron succeeded him as president in 1966.