AMESBURY — The city’s second mayor, David Hildt, passed away recently, leaving behind a decades-long legacy of service to the community and beyond.
Hildt, who held the city’s highest office from 2002 to 2006, died on July 16 at age 79 from complications related to vascular dementia.
With Hildt’s passing, only two of the city’s five mayors remain – the current mayor, Kassandra Gove, and a former mayor, Thatcher Kezer.
Amesbury’s first mayor, Nicholas J. Costello, died in 2025, while Ken Gray passed in 2024.
During his time as mayor, Hildt had numerous accomplishments, but to Orlando Pacheco, Georgetown’s town administrator, and Hildt’s former mayoral aide, two stood out: the adaptive reuse of the city’s Upper Millyard and the implementation of the Amesbury Riverwalk, a rail trail and bike path in the city.
However, Pacheco said the lasting impact Hildt made on the city stems more about who he was as a person rather than his politics.
“I think ultimately the biggest legacy David will leave behind is not actually anything he did politically. It was just the type of person he was, and I think that speaks volumes to the type of person he was. Most people will tell you they knew him before he was mayor, because he was mayor for such a small portion of his life, and left a really lasting impact. But his impact was really his humanity,” he said.
While Gove took time to highlight her predecessor’s contributions to the city, she also praised his kind nature.
“He was deeply committed to public service, encouraging cooperation and community engagement,” she said of Hildt. “His friendly and lighthearted leadership will always be remembered. I’m so grateful he was able to attend my first inauguration and only wish we had more time together. I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me. David is another great loss for our community, and I pledge to honor him as I continue to lead our great city. My thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues.”
David Thomas Hildt was born in Locust Valley, New York, on July 20, 1946, the middle of five siblings. His parents were John Hildt and Patricia Delehanty Hildt. The family lived in Hunting Valley, Ohio, for much of his childhood, and he attended the Hawken School there.
Hildt graduated from Georgetown University in 1968 and weeks later, he married Barbara Angell Hildt. The couple soon embarked on three years of service with the U.S. Peace Corps in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
The Hildts moved to Amesbury in 1976 where they would raise three children: Natalie H. Treat, Michael Hildt and Simon Hildt. He spent much of his career in education and public service, including School Volunteers of Boston, working with English language learners at Northern Essex Community College and as assistant director of outreach at Lawrence Public Library, at Adelante and at the Lawrence Family Development Charter School.
Hildt also served on numerous Amesbury committees and volunteered with youth programs and organizations. The pinnacle of his career was serving as mayor of Amesbury; he also served a term as president of the Massachusetts Mayors Association.
He later married Kate Broughton in 1997 and the couple retired to Greenfield in 2017, where he enjoyed gardening and yardwork of all kinds, hiking and birdwatching.
Treat said her father’s involvement in the community, from his time as mayor to his tenure on the Amesbury School Committee and Finance Committee, brought him immense joy.
“My dad was a person who loved people. He loved the community, and that’s what I’ll always remember,” she said.
But even when his time as mayor was over, Treat said her father’s love for the city and its residents never waned, a feeling returned by countless community members.
“Even after he got out of office, and I’d visit and drive around with him, he would spot some DPW workers or a police officer doing detail, and he would wave and point and say, ‘There’s my guys’. He just felt such a connection, and I know he was loved, and that meant a lot, that the community loved him back,” she said.
A celebration of Hildt’s life will be planned in the coming months.