[1] His father, Delmar Shelley Hilliard, was an Air Force A-1 Skyraider fighter pilot who flew 175 missions in Vietnam,[2] and later became Newton's county attorney for 25 years.

Robert C. Hilliard attended St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, where he enrolled on a tennis scholarship, graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English literature in 1980.

[citation needed] On February 6, 2023, the Orlando FreeFall owner reached a settlement[9] to begin dismantling ride after Sampson’s death.

[10] Hilliard represented the family of Sergio Hernández, an unarmed 15-year-old Mexican citizen who was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in 2010.

In May 2017, the Hilliard's donated $1 million to Incarnate Word Academy in Corpus Christi, Texas for a new, 14,000-square-foot elementary level Montessori building.