Dorrance "Dodo"[1] Hill Hamilton (August 16, 1928 – April 18, 2017)[2] was an American heiress of the Campbell Soup fortune and philanthropist who founded the SVF Foundation in Newport, Rhode Island and preserved Hammersmith Farm.
[5] In early 2000, Hill purchased Club Heat located on Philadelphia Pier 34 of the Delaware River from friend and attorney Michael Asbell.
[7] Subsequent investigation revealed that as early as 1978 engineers from the City of Philadelphia warned its owners that Pier 34, originally constructed in 1909, would be unfit for occupation by 1990.
[8] Asbell was subsequently warned by an engineering firm in 1995 that the site required approximately $1.2 million in renovations to make the structure safe for human occupancy.
[10] Investigators discovered that in the months and weeks leading up to the fatal 2000 collapse, the owners and managers of Club Heat were repeatedly warned that the Pier existed in an unstable condition that posed a threat to human life.