Evan Hill, the longtime head of the journalism department at the University of Connecticut and a former director and trustee of The Day, died Saturday at the age of 91.

Hill had a major influence on Connecticut journalism, and beyond the state as well, serving for nearly 20 years as head of UConn's journalism department and publishing many books and articles on journalism.

"I really got to know him when I came to The Day," retired Editor and Publisher Reid MacCluggage said Sunday. "He was a fierce defender of the newsroom and a tough questioner of authority. He had a stern schoolmaster's ability to strike at the heart of the matter. But what I remember most about him was that he cared. He cared passionately about The Day's role in the community. I found him to be a great ally on the board."

Maureen Croteau, who became head of the UConn journalism department when Mr. Hill retired, said Sunday, "I took his job, but nobody could replace him."

Croteau, who is also on The Day's board, said "I would not have gone into journalism without Evan. Evan has always been my magnetic north. ... He was gruff. He was a taskmaster. His students lived in fear of him and they loved him at the same time."

Croteau said news of Mr. Hill's death will sadden journalists across the globe. She also said that she can always tell a writer who studied under him.

"He did not like extra words, he liked things to be said very clearly, short sentences and he liked a lovely turn of phrase," she said. "And he demanded the most extraordinary reporting. There's a certain kind of precision and brevity that I see in people who were Evan's students, and it's lasted all these years."

Alcino G. Almeida, retired general manager of The Day, said Sunday that in addition to Mr. Hill's journalistic strengths, he also understood the newspaper business.

"He was a tremendous influence on The Day," Almeida said. "His journalistic background at UConn and his knowledge of the newspaper business were a tremendous help to all of us. In addition to that he was just a great person, and a joy to be with."

Mr. Hill received his bachelor's degree from Stanford University in 1948, and his master's from Boston University in 1950. In 1965, he was appointed head of the journalism department at the University of Connecticut and served in that position until he retired in 1984.

He was a director of The Day Publishing Company of New London, and a trustee of the Bodenwein Foundation from 1978 to 1989.

He co-wrote "Reporting and Writing the News" with his colleague John Breen from UConn. Breen, who retired from UConn about five years ago, said Sunday that anyone who reads the news owes Mr. Hill a debt of gratitude.

"We had a fight with the editor of the book, should we call it 'Writing and Reporting the News' or 'Reporting and Writing the News,'" Breen said. "His point was always that all the writing in the world, all the good writing in the world, won't do you any good if you don't have anything to write about. It's all about reporting, that was the one thing he stressed in all his classes."

Breen said when Mr. Hill was interviewing him for the teaching job at UConn in 1968, "we were in his office and he was asking me all these harmless questions and all of a sudden he says how many books do you own? He wanted to know what I read. He wasn't interested in the fiction, he wanted to know about the nonfiction. Then he could tell what my interests were. He was quite a character."