Fredric W. Hill, 85; Founded UC Davis Nutrition Department

Fredric W. Hill, 85, a retired UC Davis professor who founded the university’s nutrition department, was found dead Nov. 29 after having been missing for six days.

Hill, who had dementia, was found outside his car, which had run into a ditch several miles southeast of Davis in a remote area of Yolo County, according to a UC Davis official, who said the coroner had not yet determined the cause of death.

A pioneer in the field of nutrition, Hill was one of the first to study the interaction of carbohydrates, fats and amino acids as energy sources in the body. He served as editor of the Journal of Nutrition, the official journal of the American Society of Nutritional Services. He also was a scientific advisor to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration.

A native of Pennsylvania, Hill got his bachelor’s degree in poultry science and master’s degree in nutrition at Penn State University, and a doctorate in animal nutrition from Cornell.

He taught animal nutrition at Cornell for 11 years before arriving at UC Davis in 1959. He retired in 1989.