TEXTILES.ORG
Gabe Hill, who spent 60 years in the textile industry–including 43 at SP Associates in Charlotte, N.C.–died April 13, 2024 in Abbeville, S.C. He was 89.
Hill was owner and general manager of SP Associates, a well-known textile, nonwovens and apparel placement firm, before his retirement in 2017.
“f you’ve been in a part of the U.S. textile industry for any amount of time, chances are you knew Hill–or at least have corresponded with him by phone or email. Hill knew “just about everyone” in the industry, says Joel McIntyre, who bought SP Associates before Hill’s retirement.
“In our business, you can have a lot of recruiters, but there’s a big difference in having a recruiter and a successful recruiter,” McIntyre says in an article about Hill’s retirement. “And for years at SP Associates, Gabe did more business himself than everybody else did put together. He has a God-given talent. The reason for that is everybody knew that if you needed a textile person, Gabe was the guy to call. That’s held pretty true for the last 40-plus years.”
Surviving are his wife of 41 years and his children, Gabriel C. Hill IV and wife Danielle, Starr Hill Bennett and husband Kevin, Dawn Hill Terte and Husband Mitchell; 4 grandchildren; 1 great grandchild.