C. Bruce Hill was born in Ottawa in 1895 and attended school there until he went to Trinity College School in Port Hope. In 1912, he began working at the Dominion Bank but in 1914 he enlisted as a gunner with the Canadian Field Artillery. He fought in every battle in which the Canadian Corps participated as a force during World War I. He won the Military Cross at Passchendale and an added bar at Amiens in 1918. In 1919, Hill was wounded and discharged as a major.

In 1920, Hill married his first wife, Charlotte Muriel, in Hampshire, England. Together they moved to St. Catharines in 1925, where Hill began doing lots of contracting projects with the Welland Canal and other marine projects. In 1932 he purchased control of Engineering Tool and Forgings Ltd. He assumed active management of that business as well as the Canadian Warren Pink Ltd. in 1937.

By 1938 Hill was president of the St. Catharines Chamber of Commerce and in 1947 was elected as president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. On October 13, 1942, he was appointed a member of the Board of Governors of The St. Catharines General Hospital. In 1947, he became Chariman of the Finance Committee and held this position until 1964 when he became Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Executive and Investment Committees of the Hospital. These positions were held until 1968.

During the 1950s his firm’s name became ETF Tools Ltd. and merged with Canadian Warren Pink. In 1958 Hill participated in a Russian tour by Canadian business leaders. From 1958-1964, he served as a director of the Bank of Canada and the Industrial Development Bank.

In 1964 his first wife died.

In 1965, he was named St. Catharines Citizen of the Year. Brock University awarded him an honourary doctorate of law in 1970. He died in the Shaver Hospital on January 25, 1988, at the age of 90.