Hildie Neuman Lyddan

Hildie Neuman Lyddan, 72, of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, wife of William Clayton Lyddan Jr. entered into eternal rest Sunday, March 2, 2025. 

Hildie was born to a loving family, September 29, 1952 in Burbank, California, daughter of the late Seymour Neuman and the late Evelyn Zamichow Neuman. To her family, she was the sunshine - giggling, delightful, and charming. A graduate of UCLA and USC Business School, she navigated a brilliant career in advertising - first for DYR in Los Angeles, then DMBB in New York. She became a worldwide account manager at J. Walter Thompson in New York. Her most famous commercial is a classic in advertising history. For Kimberly Clark’s Kleenex, she placed a big couch in a square on Fifth Avenue where a sympathetic man sat and invited passersby to come sit down and talk. And soon enough they would start talking - and then crying - and he would hand them a box of Kleenex, cementing its name to comfort.

She married the love of her life, Bill Lyddan, CEO of Brouillard, and for 35 years they lit up the world with a sense of style and joie de vivre. They renovated homes with glamour and classic design in Hancock Park in LA, on Central Park West in New York, in Greenwich CT and finally in Charleston SC. After she retired in 2008, she made her avocation her new career - earning a degree in bread from the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan. After they moved to Charleston, South Carolina, Hildie became a home caterer for many Charlestonians - her company called Bake Me a Career - delighting with cakes, pies, delicacies and desserts. Her chocolate pecan pie was a surprise best seller.

Hildie & Bill joined forces to restore homes in historic Charleston. At every residence they renovated together - including four homes in Charleston’s historic district - she brought a tremendous sense of style, imagination and beauty. In 2022 they moved to Mount Pleasant SC - where their grounds attracted deer she loved to feed and included a dock overlooking the Wando River. There, Hildie delighted in watching the boats and welcoming friends who motored by boat to stop by for lunch.

She loved her family, making every birthday or holiday memorable, planning every detail from decor to menu. And they adored her for it. She is survived by her husband William C. Lyddan Jr., her sister Johanna Neuman, her children and their families: William Colin (Julie) Lyddan and their children Cole, Ella, and Caleb; Nicole (Mark) Johnson and their daughters Arden and the late Vivienne; Claire (Steve) Garnett and their children Lane and Booth; Robert (Sarah) Lyddan and their daughter Lillian.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to a veterans’ group of your choice, as she was a patriot.