Gordon Hilker, Retired USIU Official, Dies

Gordon Hilker, former creative director of the School of Performing and Visual Arts at United States International University, has died. He was 78.

Hilker, who served in that post at the school for 22 years before retiring last June, died of cancer Sunday in his native Vancouver, Canada, USIU officials said.

During his tenure as creative director, Hilker oversaw the move of the School of Performing Arts from downtown San Diego to Scripps Ranch and brought student performances to the Theatre in Old Town and the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, said Anne Slavicek, director of university relations.

The university also began the International Company and the now defunct International Orchestra during Hilker’s tenure, Slavicek said. Both groups brought professional performers studying for advanced degrees in theater in contact with students in the university’s undergraduate program.

Hilker also served as an entertainment consultant for Expo ’74 in Spokane, Wash.; Expo ’82 in Knoxville, Tenn., and Expo ’86 in Vancouver, Slavicek said. His role included coordinating and recruiting for the expositions such talents as Sir Laurence Olivier and the Bolshoi Ballet, said Jack Tygett, head of USIU’s musical theater department and a longtime collaborator with Hilker.

Beginning in the late 1960s, Hilker and Tygett began preparations for the 1975-76 bicentennial production of “The People of 1776” for the U.S. Department of Interior and National Parks Service. The program featuring performers and craftsmen re-creating life during the Revolutionary War toured the country, Tygett said.

Hilker is survived by a son, Michael Hilker, and a daughter, Judy MacPhearson, both of Vancouver.