Hugh E . Rodham Hugh Ellsworth Rodham ( April 2 , 1911 – April 7 , 1993 ) was an American textile wholesale r and father of former First Lady of the United States , New York Senator , and United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton . Biography . He was born in Scranton , Pennsylvania , the son of Hugh Rodham and Hannah Jones . His father was English , an immigrant from County Durham , while his mother was born in Pennsylvania , to Welsh immigrant parents ; both were descended from lines of coal miner s . Rodham attended Pennsylvania State University and was a third - string tight end for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team . He joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity . He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education from the College of Education in 1935 , at the height of the Great Depression . He briefly worked for his father ' s employer , Scranton Lace Company , then freighthopped to Chicago without telling his parents . Rodham found work there selling drapery fabric s around the Midwest , sending the money he made back home . In 1937 , while Rodham was making a sales call at a textile company , he met Dorothy Emma Howell ( 1919 – 2011 ) , who was applying for a job at that company . After a lengthy courtship , they married in early 1942 . Rodham enlisted in the United States Navy , where he became a Chief Petty Officer stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Station , performing training duties for sailors headed for the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II . After the war , he began what was to prove to be a very successful career in the textile supply industry , starting with Rodrik Fabrics , a drapery fabric business located in Chicago ' s famous Merchandise Mart building . His company made drapes and window shade s ; his customers included offices , hotels , airlines , and theaters . He later opened a fabric print plant building on the North Side . Rodham tried politics once , running for Chicago alderman as an independent in 1947 ; he lost badly to the Richard J . Daley political machine with which he was hoping to ingratiate himself . The Rodhams had three children : Hillary ( born 1947 ) , Hugh ( born 1950 ) , and Tony ( born 1954 ) . In 1950 , they moved to the more affluent Chicago suburb of Park Ridge , Illinois . The family still maintained ties to Scranton ; all three children were christened there , and they spent summers at a cottage overlooking Lake Winola , located in Overfield Township in the nearby Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains , that he and his father had built themselves in 1921 . Rodham was a staunch supporter of Barry Goldwater ’ s 1964 presidential campaign and remained a committed Republican until his death . Even after his daughter married Democrat Bill Clinton , he ( according to Bill Clinton ) " never gave up hope that his son - in - law would join him in the Republican Party and support a cut in the capital gains tax . " In late 1992 , following Bill Clinton ' s election as president , Rodham made a cameo appearance on the television comedy " Hearts Afire " , whose producers were friends of the Clintons . Hugh Rodham died in Little Rock , Arkansas , on April 7 , 1993 , three weeks after suffering a stroke and less than three months after Bill Clinton ' s inauguration as U . S . president . Following a private memorial service in Little Rock attended by the Clintons , he was buried in the Washburn Street Cemetery , Scranton , Pennsylvania , in a private funeral also attended by the Clinton family .