Born in Salt Lake City, Theodore ("Ted") Caldwell Hilton was the 5th of seven sons. Born to a pioneer family, his father Eugene obtained his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley at the age of 40 with seven children. Raised with a strong work ethic, Ted served a two year mission in New York for the LDS Church followed immediately by enlisting in the US Navy, serving on a flag cruiser in the Atlantic. On returning home at the end of the war, he met and married Maxine, a recent arrival to the Bay Area by way of the coal mines of Wyoming, both then graduating from the University of California at Berkeley.

A father to four children (Craig, Kevin, Brook and Ann) and married to Maxine until his passing, Ted was active in community, church and professional activities throughout his life. After initially settling in the Berkeley Hills (Northern California), Ted and his family moved to La Canada-Flintridge (Los Angeles County) in 1961 where they lived until his retirement. In 1982, Ted and Maxine moved to the Southern California desert where they lived until moving to the Carolinas in 1990.

Initially employed at Standard Oil as Personal Director of their Chemical Division, Ted remained in Personell and Training throughout his career, retiring as a Vice President and Officer of Transamerica Corporation. After retirement, Ted founded Anchor Industries, an electronics assembly business in Los Angeles.

An avid reader and student of religion and philosophy, Ted wrote hundreds of poems, a novel and numerous scholarly works. He also co-authored papers with his son, Craig on self-networking robots.

A believer that education is a right due every person, Ted spent decades creating training programs focused on ongoing education.   Based on his life-long focus on education, the T.C. Hilton Foundation is named in his honor.